Graduate Student Remains in Detention - Reasons Unclear

Graduate Student Hüseyin Edemir has been detained for one year now on the groundsof his alleged membership of the Party and Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of the Turkish People (DHKP-C). At the hearing on Tuesday (8 Feburary), the porsecutor requested the acquittal of Edemir, student at the renowned Middle-East Techincal Univeristy, but the court decided to keep him in prison.

Detained defendant Edemir attended the Tuesday hearing at the Beşiktaş (Istanbul) 10th High Criminal Court. Defenant İlker Alcan was absent since he has not been arrested yet upon an arrest warrant issued before.

The sixth hearing of the case saw a change of the court board and the prosecutor. Prosecutor Kasım İlimoğlu said that the allegations put forward against Edemir in the indictment streched from 12 October 2001 till 24 Feburary 2009, the day he was arrested. İlimoğlu claimed that "there is no evidence that would suggest any affiliation to the organization during that time" and requested Edemir's release.

The prosecutor suggested Edemir's release upon the decision for judicial control. Additionally, İlimoğlu demanded to investigate the validity and the lawfulness of the evidence regarding Edemir's alleged membership of the terrorist organization and to investigate the relation with Edemir.

Presient Judge Ali Alcık and the members of the court board, Hadi Çağdır and İbrahim Balık, decided to keep Edemir in detention. It was also decreed to wait for the arrest of defendant Alcan. The trial was adjourned to 8 March.

Lawyer Aslan: Prosecutor's request dismissed without reasons

Edemir's lawyer Oya Aslan talked to bianet after the hearing. She drew attention to the fact that the court did not decide for an investigation into the evidence.

"The evidence is investigated in similar cases. The prosecutor requested Edemir's release because there was no evidence that proved any relation between Edemir and the organization. It was a just request that was dismissed by the court. Moreover, the court declined this request without giving any reason", Aslan criticized.

Friends and lecturers from ODTÜ supported Edemir

Edemir's fellow students from ODTÜ and his family released a press statement in front of the Beşiktaş Courthouse before the hearing.

The statement was read out by Edemir's fiancée Sevgi Göğülter. She said that the only piece of evidence against Edemir was based on a print out that was apparently acquired in an unlawful search ten years ago. Göğülter demanded Edemir's acquittal and a reimbursement for the losses.

The press statement was also joined by Edemir's fellow students and lecturers from ODTÜ, among them Tayfun Altay and Ferdan Ergut. They carried banners reading "Freedom to Hüseyin Edemir", "We are Hüseyin Edemir's witnesses" or "Hüseyin Edemir is seeking justice". The defendant's brother, Murat Edemir, and his parents came from Ardahan in north-eastern Turkey to attend the hearing.

Edemir was also supported by Kadriye Karcı from Germany, Member of Parliament for Die Linke party. "I hope that justice will be dispensed by releasing Edemir". (EG/EÖ/VK)