TRIAL OF ACADEMICS
Academic Sentenced to 1 Year, 10 Months, 15 Days in Prison
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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 today (March 28).
At the İstanbul 25th Heavy Penal Court, Prof. Dr. Onur Hamzaoğlu from Kocaeli University had his first hearing and Assoc. Prof. Yıldırım Şentürk from Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts had his third hearing. At the 33rd Heavy Penal Court, S.A. from Uludağ University had the second hearing and Dr. Özge Sanem Özateş from Hacettepe University had her third hearing.
Deferred prison sentence for 1 academic
Having the final hearing at the 33rd Heavy Penal Court, academic S.A. has been sentenced to 1 year, 10 months, 15 days in prison on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK). The announcement of the verdict has been deferred.*
Presenting the opinion as to the accusations, the prosecutor of the same court demanded that academic Özge Sanem Özateş be also penalized on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization."
Rejection of venue for Onur Hamzaoğlu
At the İstanbul 25th Heavy Penal Court, the court board has given a verdict of rejection of venue for academic Onur Hamzaoğlu and ruled that his case file shall be sent to the Kocaeli Heavy Penal Court on Duty, "where the offense charged was committed."
At the hearing of Yıldırım Şentürk heard by the same court, the court board has granted the request for extension of prosecution raised by attorney Meriç Eyüboğlu, which also marks the first time when a request made by the attorney has been accepted by the court.
Accordingly, the court board has ruled that the speech of Bese Hozat, whom the indictment refers to as "the person from whom the academics received instruction," shall be added to the case filed of the academic.
About the Trials of AcademicsOn 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 March 28, 2019, 561 academics had stood trial since December 5, 2017, all the 167 academics whose cases were concluded have been sentenced to prison. 119 of these academics were sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison; 7 academics to 1 year and 6 months in prison; 15 academics to 1 year, 10 months and 15 days in prison; 16 academics to 2 years and 3 months in prison; five academics have been sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison; three academics have been sentenced to 2 years and 1 month in prison; and one academic to 3 years in prison. The suspension of the pronouncement of the verdict Until today, 12 academics have not accepted that the announcement of their verdicts be deferred. While seven of these academics have been sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison, one academic has been sentenced to 1 year and 6 months, one academic to 2 years and 3 months, one academic to 2 years and 6 months and one academic to 3 years in prison. The verdict of one academic has not been pronounced by the court yet. The court board of the 36th Heavy Penal Court has reduced the prison sentences of academics who did not demand the suspension of the pronouncement of their verdicts and deferred their sentences on a 2-year probation. The 32nd Heavy Penal Court has made reductions in the sentences; however, it has not deferred them. The 37th Heavy Penal Court has neither reduced nor deferred the pronouncement of the verdicts. Three academics were not asked about whether they requested the suspension of the pronouncement of their verdicts. While one of these three academics has been sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, one of them has been sentenced to 1 year and 3 months and the other academic to 2 year and 3 months in prison. The prison sentences of academics, the announcement of whose verdicts has not been suspended since their sentence is over two years, will be taken to the court of appeal. The court of appeal will either uphold or reverse the verdict. 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." |
* 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)