Journalist Zengin Released Pending Trial

Journalist and interpreter Suzan Zengin was released pending trial by the Istanbul 10^th High Criminal Court. Zengin stands accused of "membership in an illegal organization". She was detained for almost two years. Her lawyer Gül Altay told bianet, "For the first time we had the feeling that the court actually 'listened' to us".

Zengin, working for the İşçi Köylü ('Worker Peasant') newspaper, was arrested after she had been taken into police custody on 28 August 2009. She was incarcerated in the Bakırköy Women and Children Detention House in Istanbul since then.

Zengin is charged with "committing a crime on behalf of an organization without being a member of the organization" according to Article 314/2 of the Turkish Criminal Law (TCK) and with "membership in the TKP/ML-TİKKO organization", the Turkish Workers' Peasants' Liberation Army as the armed fraction of the clandestine Turkey Communist Party/Marxist-Leninist. The charges pressed against Zengin carry prison terms of up to 15 years in total.

Her indictment was announced in May 2010. At the Tuesday hearing (14 June), Zengin reiterated that she did not know the other four defendants and that she did not have any connections to these people before. Zengin stated that the allegations attributed to her cannot be proven with any evidence.

In her statement made at court, Zengin claimed, "I do not know why I am here. There are witnesses and evidence that I have no connections whatsoever with these people or with the action mentioned in the indictment. The evidence in the indictment included the fact that I used unions as news sources and also referred to some telephone conversations I made at the newspaper. This is the material the charges of membership in an illegal organization are based on".

"Legal writing and conversations turned into evidence"

Lawyer Altay reiterated their demand for the release of her client. Altay announced that this time the court accepted their defence.

The lawyer indicated that two articles from the "flash memory" publication found during a raid of Zengin's home were included in the file as evidence. Yet, these articles had been previously published in the İşçi Köylü newspaper, she stated.

"Both articles were published in the newspaper and there were no trials opened because of them. But now theses articles found in the search were presented as evidence for Zengin's connections to an illegal organization. Why was the newspaper not sued before if these articles are illegal?" Altay questioned.

Altay said that also Prosecutor Kasım İlimoğlu requested Zengin's release this time. The court accepted the request and the trial was postponed to 3 November.

"Some journalists have been detained for five years"

Journalists from Turkey and abroad observed the hearing to support Zengin, among them Eugene Schoulgin, Vice President of the International Writers Association (PEN), Ragıp Zarakolu from the Turkish Writers Association, Yurdanur Atadar and Mehmet Demir from the Freedom for Journalists Platfor12m, Necati Abay from the Platform for Solidarity with Detained Journalists (TGDP) and writer Nevin Berktaş.

TGDP member Abay told bianet, "There are tried journalists who have been detained for five years, for example Sedat Şenoğlu, publications co-ordinator of Atılım newspaper. Zengin's case is one of the unlawful prosecutions of the Special Authority High Criminal Courts. Theses courts have to be abolished if press freedom in Turkey shall advance". (AS/VK)