TRIAL OF ACADEMICS

3 Academics Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison in Total

Noemi Levy Aksu has been sentenced to 2 years, 6 months in prison without deferment. Şenay Çınar and Belin Benezra have been each sentenced to 15 months in prison; the announcement of their verdicts has been deferred.

Tansu Pişkin

3 Academics Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison in Total

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Trial of academics, who have been charged with "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" for having signed the declaration entitled "We will not be a party to this crime" prepared by the Academics for Peace, continued in İstanbul Çağlayan Courthouse yesterday (June 13).

Academics had their hearings at four different courts:

At the İstanbul 27th Heavy Penal Court; Dr. Lecturer Noemi Levy Aksu from Boğaziçi University had her fifth hearing.

At the İstanbul 27th Heavy Penal Court; PhD student Şenay Çınar, Research Assistant Zeynep Arıkan and Dr. Lecturer Meltem Gürle from Boğaziçi University and Research Assistant Belin Benezra from İstanbul Bilgi University had their third hearings.

At the İstanbul 26th Heavy Penal Court; Research Assistant Didem Pekün from Koç University had her third hearing.

At the İstanbul 24th Heavy Penal Court; Prof. Dr. Leyla Işıl Ünal from Ankara University had her first hearing.

30-month prison sentence for one academic

Having her final hearing at the 27th Heavy Penal Court, Noemi Levy Aksu has been sentenced to 2 years, 6 months in prison for "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK).

As her verdict of conviction has not been deferred, it will be taken to the court of appeal, which will either uphold or reverse her prison sentence.

Presiding Judge: It is the shame of that court

Before the court announced its ruling, Noemi Levy Aksu presented her statement as to the accusations and indicated that she repeated her previous statements. She also added that she did not accept the suspension of the announcement of the verdict when the court announced its ruling.

Making his defense as to the accusations, lawyer İnayet Aksu said, "For us, the verdict to be given here will be a political one. But, if a political comment will be made, then the rights and freedoms of the citizens should also be protected in accordance with the law."

Concluding his defense, lawyer Aksu also presented a verdict of acquittal given by the Supreme Court of Appeals regarding a text written about Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan.

In response to this verdict, Presiding Judge Tamer Keskin said, "It is the shame of that court. Is praising terrorist organizations freedom of expression? If a lady is raped here, will we call it freedom of expression? I mean, if a woman is raped here, can you defend it?".

Deferred prison sentence for two academics

At the 37th Heavy Penal Court, academics Belin Benezra and Şenay Çınar have been each sentenced to 1 year, 3 months in prison on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization".

The pronouncement of both verdicts has been deferred.*

About the Trials of Academics

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.

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 June 13, 2019, 623 academics had stood trial since December 5, 2017, all the 199 academics whose cases were concluded have been sentenced to prison. 141 of these academics were sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison; 8 academics to 1 year and 6 months in prison; 16 academics to 1 year, 10 months and 15 days in prison; 17 academics to 2 years and 3 months in prison; seven academics have been sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison; five academics have been sentenced to 2 years and 1 month in prison; and one academic to 3 years in prison.

Non-deferred prison sentences for 35 people

Of these 199 people, the verdicts of conviction of 36 academics in total have not been deferred; while the verdicts of 29 people have not been deferred as their prison terms are over 2 years (as per the Article 286 of the Law on Criminal Courts, the verdicts of 7 academics have not been deferred as they did not accept the deferment of the announcement of their verdicts.

With her 15-month prison sentence upheld by the court of appeal, Academic for Peace Prof. Dr. Füsun Üstel has been arrested since May 8, 2019.

The academics given non-deferred prison sentences are as follows:

Ayşe Erzan, Özdemir Aktan, Nesrin Sungur Çakmak, Füsun Üstel, Büşra Ersanlı, Lütfiye Bozdağ, Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Özgür Müftüoğlu, Yonca Demir, Gençay Gürsoy, M.A., Alper Akyüz, Ahmet Bekmen, Nihan Aksakallı, Hülya Kirmanoğlu, İsmet Akça, Haydar Durak, İlkay Özküralpli, Öznur Yaşar Diner, Remzi Orkun Güner, Esra Kaliber, Eda Aslı Şeran, Aysuda Kölemen, İlkay Yılmaz, Zeynep Tül Süalp, L.N., S.A., Gevher Gökçe, Çare Olgun Çalışkan, Nevin Zeynep Yelçe, Ali Kerem Saysel, Koray Çalışkan, S.I. Süreyya Topaloğlu, Ayşe Gül Altınay, Noemi Levy Aksu.

You can reach all news on Trials of Academics here

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 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 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."

You can reach the statements of Academics for Peace in English here

* As per the Article 231 of the Law on Criminal Courts (CMK), when a court rules that the announcement of a verdict shall be suspended or deferred, the verdict/sentence is removed in the event that the person does not commit an intentional crime in five years.

(TP/SD)

trial of academics

Tansu Pişkin

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bianet muhabiri. İstanbul Üniversitesi Siyaset Bilimi ve Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü mezunu. Şubat-Mart 2017 dönemi bianet stajyeriydi. Mayıs 2017'den beri bianet'te.