No Progress inTrial against Journalist Birand and Politician Tuğluk

The litigation against ten defendants, among them Aysel Tuğluk, former Diyarbakır Deputy of the dissolved pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), and Mehmet Ali Birand, journalist and lawyer of Abdullah Öcalan (leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party PKK), was postponed to next year. The defendants are charged with "spreading propaganda for the PKK".

The trial was continued before the Istanbul 9^th High Criminal Court on Tuesday (21 September). The court decided to wait for the execution of the arrest warrant issued upon lawyer Mahmut Şakar. The coming hearing was scheduled for 1 February 2011.

Different files against Tuğluk tried at the Istanbul 9^th, 11^th and 14^th High Criminal Court were merged at the 9^th Criminal Court. The Kurdish politician had received a prison sentence of one year and six months and an occupational ban as a lawyer. However, the Court of Appeals overruled the punishment.

In the current case, Tuğluk is tried together with DTP Deputy Ayla Ata Akat, and Mehmet Ali Birand, producer at the Turkish television station Kanal D.

Facing heavy penalties

A total of ten people are involved in the trial, including Tuğluk, Ata, lawyer Mahmut Şakar, İrfan Dündar, Doğan Erbaş and Hatice Korkut, They are prosecuted over a joint letter entitled "A letter to the government" published in the Yeniden Özgüt Gündem newspaper between March 2003 and February 2004. The charges are furthermore based on the news items "Peace Call from Öcalan" and "I will defend the South-East", "Let's kill all joy" published in the Özgür Politika newspaper, "A message like a threat from Imralı to the summit" published in Milliyet newspaper, "Some tragedies might come" in the Yeni Binyıl magazine, "The whistling continues" in Hürriyet newspaper and news items published in Gözcü newspaper, Akit, Türkiye, the Kanal D Main News Bulletin and the Nasname internet site.

The defendants are indicted under article 220/7 of the Turkish Criminal Law on "knowing and willingly aiding and abetting an illegal organization as part of the hierarchical structure of the organization" and article 314/2 TCK on "membership in an armed organization". Article 220/7 foresees imprisonment of up to three years, article 314/2 demands prison sentence of up to ten years. (EÖ/VK)