"My name is Suszan Zengin, I am in Prison"

"Hello,

I have been detained in the Bakırköy [Istanbul] Closed Prison for Women for the past one and a half years. At the same time, I am one of dozens of journalists who are currently kept in prison.

I was taken to court exactly one year after I had been arrested. The court decided to continue my detention despite the lack of any evidence. The second hearing was postponed for six months to 15 February 2011. If I am not being released at the hearing on 15 February, the following hearing will be postponed another six months and my unjust detention will be continued. I am writing this letter to put pen to paper about the rights violations I experienced.

I was informed about the state of the public opinion and the procedures of my case while I was being detained. I want to remind and reiterate a few things related to the trial.

I am tried on charges of "membership to an illegal organization" upon a file and an indictment that does/cannot be related to me in any way and that openly shows that I am not involved. It was tried to create a "proof" for this accusation from material that was clearly seen as belonging to the newspaper I was working for and that did not contain any unlawfulness!

The 15 February hearing is going to show if this arbitrary-unlawful detention period that lacks any basis will be continued.

This process can certainly not be tolerated even by the slightest social opposition. The ever-lasting broad-scale oppression and obstruction against the dissident press has increased during this process.

The imprisonment of dozens of dissident journalists shows the increase of applications imposed to the dissident press such as suspension fines, seizures, raids and arrests.

The vast majority of imprisoned journalists are tried upon files created on the grounds of "illegal activities - membership of an illegal organization" etc as a result of conspiratorial measures, just as my own example shows. This is a situation on its own. One aim this is driven by is the application of "terror crimes" with this sort of conspiracies to the people who are arrested/tried because of their dissident opinions since they are dissident journalists. Besides, efforts are being taken to disgrace and discredit these people in front of the public and the society. Additionally, the number of journalists tried for their opinions is aimed to be kept at a low official figure (because of EU harmonization laws etc). What did a government official say a few months ago: "They are terrorists dressed up as journalists!".

Just this statement on its own verifies my aforementioned comments on the purpose.

My lawyer applied in accordance with the law related to lengthy detention periods enforced on 31 December 2010. Yet, the application was dismissed. It is not clear how much longer I will be detained without any evidence. As we know, the law's comment on detentions for political reasons is a bit "problematic"! So, it takes a really long time to recognize a long detention period!

This includes my own specific experiences. It will be understood on 15 February if my imprisonment of 1.5 years that lacks any concrete evidence will be accounted for as long enough.

Suzan Zengin / Detained Journalist-Interpreter

Bakırköy Closed Prison for Women B/4" (EÖ)