5 Academics Have Their Third Hearings

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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 (November 7).

Five academics had their hearings at three separate courts:

At the İstanbul 36th Heavy Penal Court, lecturer Deniz Parlak from Kemerburgaz University and Dr. Lecturer Dilşa Deniz from Nişantaşı University had their third hearings.

At the İstanbul 37th Heavy Penal Court, lecturer Sarphan Uzunoğlu from Kadir Has University had his third hearing.

At the İstanbul 27th Heavy Penal Court, lecturer Ayşegün Soysal and Dr. Lecturer Melike Acar from Boğaziçi University had their third hearings.

Same opinion as to accusations at two courts

The Prosecutor's Offices at the 36th and 37th Heavy Penal Courts announced their opinions as to the accusations for Deniz Parlak and Sarphan Uzunoğlu.

Both offices demanded that the academics be penalized on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the first and second sentences of the Article no. 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law.

The law in question foresees that the ones "who have propagandized for a terrorist organization" shall be sentenced to 1 to 5 years in prison. Moreover, "in the event that the offence is committed via media organs, the foreseen period for prison sentence shall be increased by half."

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.

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 November 7, 2018, 381 academics had stood trial since December 5, 2017. 33 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.

The penalty of Prof. Dr. Üstel was not deferred on the grounds that "she did not demand deferment of the announcement of the verdict and that she did not make a statement of penitence." As for the penalty of Prof. Dr. Büşra Ersanlı, it was not deferred on the ground that "no opinion as to her avoidance of committing offense has emerged considering her personality which does not express any remorse."

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 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."

The trials still continue. (TP/SD)