"TMK Against Fair Trial”
Amnesty International made a statement after Cihan Kırmızıgül was sentenced to imprisonment of 11 years 3 months and told Anti-Terror Law had to comply with the international standards:
"Anti- Terror Laws have to be changed and complied with the international standards even though there will be an appeal against current decision for Cihan Kırmızıgül. It's very important to implement fair trial standards at all prosecutions in Turkey."
"We are very concerned as Cihan is back to prison and the hearing is based on the conflicting testimony of witnesses and keffiyeh (Puşi) he was wearing.
Kırmızıgül was sentenced to 6 years 3 months of imprisonment for "committing a crime on behalf of an organization without being a member of that organization", 4 years 2 months for "throwing Molotov cocktails" and10 months for "damaging property" on May 11th hearing held at Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court.
What had happened?
Galatasaray University student Cihan Kırmızıgül was arrested while waiting for the bus at Çağlayan, İstanbul on February 2010 and has been detained for 25 months. He was tried under allegations of "membership in an illegal organization" and "he might have been part of the incident" because he was wearing a keffiyeh (Puşi) which is a traditional Arab headdress made from a square black and white piece of cloth.
He was released pending trial at the eighth hearing of his case on Friday (23 March) however as a result of the hearing held on May 11th Friday at Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court, he was sentenced to 11 years 3 months of imprisonment in total.
The court decreed "The piece of cloth called "puşi"( keffiyeh) was used for a crime". They will appeal to the supreme court. (AS)