Seferi Yilmaz Still Under Arrest

Yilmaz whose Umut (hope) book shop was bombed on November 9, 2005, leading this June to 39 years jail sentences passed for two non commissioned officers who were caught after the explosion, was placed under arrest on June 20 and transferred to a local prison.

The arrest was made not in relation to the bombing of his shop but allegations made by a supergrasser named Hasan Saglar from the ranks of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who claimed Yilmaz had connections with some of the organization's rural leaders.

In Monday's first hearing the prosecutor's opinion that Yilmaz should be released only found one supporting vote among the case's judges who eventually decided to keep him in prison which could mean his remaining in jail at least until the second hearing which is listed for November 15.

Yilmaz's lawyer Murat Timur told bianet that the court had been adjourned to collect more evidence and to interview confessor Saglar as well as petty-officer Ozcan Deniz who was convicted for involvement in the bookstore bombing. Timur said the court had also requested information from the Interior Ministry and the police on statements made by Yilmaz following the Semdinli bombing.

The Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) had said after Yilmaz's arrest last June his being the most important witness in revealing the involvement of state forces in the Semdinli bombing made his following imprisonment "suspicious".

"The truth that came out behind the bombing of the Umut Bookstore in Semdinli [is] that officials of the state have committed the act of bombing. The non commissioned officers who participated in this act were sentenced to 39 years imprisonment by the Van High Criminal Court. Seferi Yilmaz is the owner of Umut Bookstore. He is the most important witness to reveal that state forces participated in the act of bombing" the statement said.

It added "we would like to express that we find it suspicious that Sefer Yilmaz, the victim and witness of the incident, was arrested due to a statement made by a repentant immediately after the verdict of the 'Semdinli Case' which was previously accepted as positive by democratic public opinion". (TK/EO/II/YE)