Prosecutor’s Office Announces Opinion as to Accusations for 4 Academics After 30 Months

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The eighth hearing of the case, which was the first lawsuit filed against Academics for Peace for having signed the declaration entitled "We will not be a party to this crime" and where four academics were arrested for a while, was held at the İstanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court today (October 9).

The hearing was attended by academics Esra Mungan and Meral Camcı.

In the hearing held today, it was seen that the opinion as to the accusations prepared by the Prosecutor's Office entered the case file of the academics.

In its opinion as to the accusations, the Prosecutor's Office demanded that Dr. Lecturer Esra Mungan, Dr. Lecturer Meral Camcı, Dr. Lecturer Muzaffer Kaya and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kıvanç Ersoy be penalized as per the 1st and 2nd sentences of the Article no. 7/2 entitled "Propagandizing for a terrorist organization" of the Anti-Terror Law. The Office also requested that their period of detention and arrest be reduced from the related penalty.

The court board granted time to the academics and their attorneys for the preparation of their statements of defense. Their next hearing will be held on January 28, 2019 at 10.30 a.m.

At the İstanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court, after the hearing of the four academics, the eighth hearing of the case, which has been filed against academic Fuat Özdinç, who was discharged from Kırıkkale University, was also held. The next hearing of Özdinç will be held on January 28, 2019.

What happened?

On January 10, 2016, 1,128 academics published a declaration entitled "We will not be party to this crime" on behalf of the Academics for Peace initiative. With the participation of further academics, the number of academics who have signed the declaration has reached 2,212.

On March 10, 2016, the Academics for Peace made a statement for press and shared with the public what they had been going through since the declaration "We will not be a party to this crime" was published.

The academics Dr. Lecturer Esra Mungan, Dr. Lecturer Muzaffer Kaya, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kıvanç Ersoy (March 15, 2016) and Dr. Lecturer Meral Camcı (March 31, 2016), who read out the above-mentioned statement for press, were arrested on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article No. 7/2 of the Turkish Anti-Terror Law. They were released on April 22, 2016.

Upon the request of the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Justice granted a permission of trial as per the Article No. 301 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 301 on charges of "insulting the Turkish Nation, the State of the Republic of Turkey and the institutions and organs of the government."

With the indictment issued by the Prosecutor İsmet Bozkurt, lawsuits were filed against the academics on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article No. 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law No. 3713.

As of October 9, 2018, 292 academics had stood trial since December 5, 2017. 27 of these academics were sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison and all of the sentences were suspended, except for those of Prof. Dr. Zübeyde Füsun Üstel from Galatasaray University and Prof. Dr. Büşra Ersanlı from Marmara University. (BK/SD)