Students Face 25 Years in Jail - Evidence: Posters

Ankara University students Özgür Alkan and Bahadır Söylemez are facing imprisonment of up to 25 years. Evidence shown against them include posters and banners they carried at a meeting organized by the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) on 13 March 2011. The second hearing of the case was held before the Ankara 12^th High Criminal Court on Thursday (1 March).

The prosecutor announced to present his final plea in the coming hearing due to a recent amendment related to the core of the trial. Thereupon, the judge postponed the hearing to 24 May.

bianet talked to defendant Özgür Alkan. He said, "This trial is an indicator for how much freedom of expression is being restricted in this country. Not even [indictments about] murderers seek prison sentences as high as sought for my friend and me".

What happened?

At a demonstration organized by the TTB on 13 March in Ankara, students Alkan and Söylemez carried a poster that showed the pictures of three revolutionists who were executed in the course of the military coup on 12 September 1980. The banner featured the slogan "Executions don't intimidate us - Ethem Çoşkun, Seyit Konuk, Necati Vardar; the warriors of 13 March are alive; Leninists are fighting".

The indictment put forward that the students posted a banner reading "Those who fell in Kızıldere are alive in our fight - Revolutionary Students Union" at another demonstration on 30 March. According to the indictment, the event was allegedly held to commemorate Mahir Çayan, murdered leader of the Turkey's People's Liberation Party-Front (THKP-C). The students were taken into police custody during a crackdown on their hall of residence and arrested on 4 May.

Items found in their rooms in the course of the search and classified as "evidence of crime" include going to the March Culture, Arts and Thoughts Association; being the founder of the association; possession of that association's magazine; the book "War and Peace" by Tolstoy; post cards of Deniz Gezmiş; books of Mahir Çayan or a photo calendar or Deniz Gezmiş. (SK/HK)