"Good Guys" Released in Semdinli Trial

The trial concerning the bombing of a bookshop in Semdinli, in the southeastern province of Hakkari, on 9 November 2005 has seen a new, highly controversial development.

Released from detention 

The three suspects in the case, noncommissioned gendarmerie officers Ali Kaya and Özcan Ildeniz, as well as PKK-member turned informant Veysel Ates, were released from detention at the first hearing in military court on Friday, 14 December.

 The Van Gendarmerie Command Military Court said that there was "no probability of obscuring evidence or absconding" and that the time the defendants had spent in time should be taken into account.

"Fair trial not possible" 

The joint attorneys in the case announced that there was no possibility of a fair trial in a military court and withdrew from the hearing.

Sezgin Tanrikulu of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, one of the joint attorneys, told bianet: "In the morning we explained that the military court could not be responsible for this case, and we demanded that the military court declare lack of jurisdiction and send the case to a court of jurisdictional disputes."

The court rejected this demand, and 330 lawyers, who had come from all over Turkey to take part in the trial as joint plaintiffs, announced that they would withdraw from the case.

Tanrikulu said, "We stated that an institution which had meddled with the independence of the judiciary from the beginning had suffered through this case and that the military court could not conduct a fair trial. We said that we would not join the trial, and that they should try themselves."

He added that the lawyers had been keen to join the trial in order to expose the illegalities existing in Turkey: "Our worries are human rights, democracy, law and peace. The values that (Chief of General Staff) Büyükanit says 'we have lost'."

"After this point, we civilians will not be in a court formed by the General Staff, where the judges, who are soldiers, will judge soldiers. The trial will not be legitimate."

From court to court...

The case was initially heard at a civilian court, the Van 3rd Heavy Penal Court, and the demands of the defense to release the defendants had been refused each time.

The defendants had been sentenced to more than 39 years imprisonment each, but the Supreme Court of Appeals had overruled the decree on 16 May, claiming that there had been an imcomplete investigation and that the soldiers should be tried at a military court, as they had been "on duty".

Chief of General Staff Yasar Büyükanit had personally commented on defendant Ali Kaya, famously saying "I know him, he is a good guy." After the initial sentence was handed out, he had said at a press briefing in April that it represented "the murder of law".

Later, the original board of judges was disbanded; the newly-formed board at the Van 3rd Heavy Penal Court decided to send the case to military court on 14 September. (TK/NZ/AG)