14 Suspects "Sentenced" to 10 Months Detention

The Istanbul 9th High Criminal Court accepted the indictment of the Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office on the "Revolutionary Headquarters Organization" and adjourned the trial for another 5 months. 14 people had been detained after member of the organization Orhan Yılmazkaya had been killed in a police operation on 27 April in Bostancı on Istanbul's Anatolian side.  The detained defendants have to wait till 23 February 2010 to be brought before the court, which will add up to a total of 10 months in detention.

Captain Nejdet Öztürk, who had rented the flat in Bostancı at which Yılmazkaya was caught, had sent notice that he was abroad on a ship but coming to make a statement. When he arrived in Turkey, he was arrested and taken to Tekirdağ Prison.

ECHR criteria: reasonable duration of detention

Due to the European Human Rights Convention of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), concerning article 5 on the "right to liberty and security" and article 6 on "the right to a fair trial", the duration of detention has to be reasonable and the trial has to proceed within a reasonable time.

5 months imprisonment for knowing Yılmazkaya

Colleagues of the editor of daily Vatan newspaper's website gazetevatan.com Aylin Duruoğlu organized a protest action in front of the newspaper's office to support Duruoğlu. She had been arrested on 27 April under allegations of having connections to Yılmazkaya.

Doğruoğlu had explained that she met with Yılmazkaya, author of the book "Turkish Baths", a couple of times since she did not want to offend him as a writer and as a former fellow student. Yet, the court decided to keep her in detention for 10 months.

Musician and dancer Ceren Sütlaş and filmmaker Meral Seven are in the same situation although the indictment clearly says that the search of their houses did not reveal any elements of crime. Sülaş had been connected to Yılmazkaya because she had delivered money coming from abroad to him.

Demircan: An earlier date should have been given

Sütlaş's lawyer Tunç Demircan sees a violation of the right to a fair trial in this situation. When he insisted on an earlier proceeding of the case, the court replied "We are very busy, there are so many files".

Demircan reminded the first page of the book on procedural law read in 3^rd grade of Law school, saying "Late justice is no justice".

"The only thing you hear when you ask the court are a thousand sighs. But this situation opens the road to turning the measure of detention into a penalty. And this is not the only file, there are many files like this. This is a very long time, they shoul have announced an earlier day. My client and the other detainees are in prison since 30 April. By the time the case opens my client will have been in detention for 10 months. So, what if after 10 months they will say "sorry, you have actually not been guilty"? This country has certain sources, this problem has to be solved".

Deniz Seki, Füsun Erdoğan, Ahmet Birsin...

Former Özgür Radio editor Füsun Erdoğan and Gün TV editor Ahmet Birsin, member of the Marxis Leninist Communist Party, are in similar situations being detained and waiting for PKK cases to proceed.  

Additionally, singer Deniz Seki was taken to court after 218 days of detention. She had been arrested on 24 February under allegations of drug trafficking and drug use and faces prison sentence up to 24 years and 6 months. (EÖ/VK)