Trial in Bookshop Bombing “Not Fair”

Joint attorneys in the case against the suspected bombers of the Semdinli bookshop have withdrawn from the case in protest. They argue that the military court is not independent and there will not be a fair trial.

Erhan Üstündağ

On Friday (14 March), the hearing in the trial concerning the bombing of a bookshop in Semdinli was postponed to 6 June.

On 9 November 2005, a bookshop in Semdinli, in the southeastern province of Hakkari was bombed, killing one person.

The bombers who were caught soon after turned out to be two gendarmerie officers and a former PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) member turned informant.

Van Heavy Penal Court handed out sentences

Petty officers Ali Kaya and Özcan Ildeniz, as well as informant Veysel Ates had been sentenced to around 39 years imprisonment by the Van 3rd Heavy Penal Court. However, the 9th Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the sentences, arguing that the case should have been heard by a military court.

When lawyers objected to this decision, investigations were started against them. The panel of judges who had sentenced the defendants was disbanded, and a new panel followed the decree of the Supreme Court and sent the case to a military court in Van on 14 September 2007.

Prosecutor Sarikaya persecuted

Even before, a prosecutor’s career was ruined when he probed too deeply into the relations between army and bombers. Prosecutor Ferhat Sarikaya, who initially prepared the indictment against the defendants, also wanted to initate an investigation against Yasar Büyükanit, then the commander of the ground forces and today Chief of General Staff.

Büyükanit had said of defendant Kaya, “I know him, he’s a good guy,” and he had described the Semdinli case as a “murder of the law” in a press statement on 12 April 2007.

Prosecutor Sarikaya was investigated and taken off the case. Later, the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors removed him from the bar, thus banning him from working as a lawyer again.

Friday’s hearing was attended by the owner of the bombed bookshop, Seferi Yilmaz, who has already made a statement.

Tanrikulu: No hope for a fair trial

Sezgin Tanrikulu, president of the Diyarbakir Bar Association said that the joint attorneys, who number more than 300, have decided not to attend the hearing in order to draw attention to the fact that the military court is not independent.

Their demand on 14 December 2007 that the military court decree lack of jurisdiction was refused, and they will thus withdraw from the case.
Tanrikulu told bianet, “We do not believe that the case will have a fair result after this point.” (EÜ/GG/AG)