Deferred Prison Sentence of 1 Year, 8 Months for Academic Hanifi Barış

Click to read the article in Turkish

Academic and lawyer Hanifi Barış, who is also an Academic for Peace, had his final hearing in the lawsuit which was filed against him due to his social media posts yesterday (February 12).

The court has ruled that Barış shall be sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization." The announcement of the verdict has been deferred.

The court board consisted of Presiding Judge Mustafa Çakar; Members Barış Öztürk and Berhan Hamdi; and Prosecutor Arif Kaplan.

"The act was done repeatedly"

Appearing before the court, Hanifi Barış and his attorneys presented their last statements of defense. After the defenses, the court board announced its verdict and found Barış guilty of the offense charged.

Accordingly, in its justified ruling, the court board referred to the Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK) and stated,

"...considering the goal and motivation pursued by the defendant and the statements that he made, it has been considered suitable to give a sentence on the lower limit; accordingly, it has been ruled that the defendant shall be sentenced to 1 year in prison; his sentence shall be increased to 1 year, 6 months since the act in question was done via Internet and be increased to 1 year, 12 months considering that the act was done repeatedly..."

In its final ruling, the court board has reduced the prison sentence of Barış by one sixth "on the ground of his attitude and behavior during the hearing" and ruled that the academic shall be sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison.

The court board has also suspended the pronouncement of the verdict "considering that he was not convicted of an intentional crime before, the offense in question did not cause a material public damage and his behavior and attitude in the hearings led the court board to have a positive conviction that he will not commit an offense in the future."

What happened?

Upon receiving a phone call from the police on July 4, 2018, academic and lawyer Hanifi Barış went to the police department to depose. Being first referred to the Prosecutor's Office, then to the court, Barış was arrested by the İstanbul 10th Penal Judgeship of Peace on the same night "on the ground that there was suspicion of escape and hiding."

Barış was released from prison in his first hearing on September 18, 2018. However, an international travel ban and an obligation to give signatures at a police department once a week were imposed on him.

In his second hearing on December 13, the prosecutor of the hearing demanded that Barış be penalized as per the Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law, stating that with the social media posts that he shared without adding his personal comments, Hanifi Barış "tried to legitimize the armed terrorist organization Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) / Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) and its activities and made propaganda with contents encouraging participation in the organization." (TP/SD)