Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeals 9th Criminal Division held the case of Pınar Selek’s trial this morning. Sociologist Pınar Selek was sentenced to life for her “involvement” in 1998 Egyptian Bazaar Explosion.
The court decided to deliver its verdict on Pınar Selek on June 11th.
“Today, we’re leaving this court with more hope.” Akın Atalay told bianet.
“Since this is the first time we’re allowed to justify our case, judges said that they’re going to look into the files according to our justifications and decide on Pınar Selek’s verdict.”
“We never lost our hope on this case. But my personal opinion is that we’re leaving with more hope today.”
Trial lasted 4 hours
Pınar Selek stood trial in Egyptian Bazaar Explosion case and she got acquitted for 3 times. On January 23rd, 2013 the court issued an “aggravated” life sentence.
Today, her trial at Supreme Court of Appeals 9th Criminal Division lasted 4 hours.
Her lawyer Akın Atalay presented his case on the procedures. After him, Ayhan Erdoğan, another defense lawyer, presented his assessments with animations and reports. Erdoğan argued that this situation being a bomb explosion is physically impossible.
Pınar Selek’s father and lawyer Alp Selek stated his daughter’s arrest process, claiming that that she was already being tracked before her arrest, “when she was interrogated under detention, police asked questions on her research and [indeed] the government wanted names from her. ‘give us couple of names and get out of here’ police said. Pınar Selek didn’t give any names even though she was being heavily tortured.
Lastly, Pınar Selek’s lawyer Bahri Belen evaluated the 16 year long judiciary process.
“Pınar wanted to meet with Öcalan. She contacted many people for that to happen. Her desire was to end this war” said Belen. He also mentioned that the life sentence imprisonment verdict is completely political. “While Abdülmecit Öztürk’s acquittal stayed as it is, the court changed the verdict on Pınar Selek.”
The verdict on Pınar Selek will be released on June 11th.
* Click here to read the article in Turkish.
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