Facing up to 15 years in prison, director Kazım Öz acquitted

* Photo: Evrensel newspaper

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Charged with "membership of an armed terrorist organization" and facing 7 years, 6 months to 15 years in prison, director Kazım Öz had his third hearing at the Tunceli 2nd Heavy Penal Court yesterday (September 1).

Announcing its ruling, the court board has ruled that Öz shall be acquitted on the ground of lack of criminal evidence.

In his previous hearing on February 4, 2020, the judicial control measures on Öz were lifted after over a year and the hearing was adjourned to April 28. On that day, the hearing was postponed due to the pandemic.

In his hearing on October 1, 2019, Kazım Öz said, "The political atmosphere created by a period has an effect here. I think this case is based on an attempt to punish everyone who is critical and dissident. All in all, it is not a legal, but a political case. I am a filmmaker. While I was writing a script, I found myself preparing my defense. I wrote pages and pages of defense. Maybe, I could have made that film in the meantime."

What happened?

As part of an investigation conducted by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, director Kazım Öz was detained in Pertek, Dersim on November 24, 2018 and taken to Diyarbakır. Detained for two days, Öz was released on probation after he deposed at the prosecutor's office.

Prepared by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the indictment against Öz was accepted by the 9th Heavy Penal Court. Accordingly, charged with "membership of an armed terrorist organization," Öz was facing 7 years, 6 months to 15 years in prison on the offense charged.

The indictment referred to his participation in the then pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party's (BDP) Politics Academy and Gezi resistance and some of his phone calls as alleged criminal evidence.

About Kazım Öz

Kazım Öz was born in Turkey's eastern province of Dersim (Tunceli) in 1973. He graduated from İstanbul Yıldız Technical University (YTÜ) Department of Civil Engineering. He completed his BA studies in the Department of Cinema and TV of Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts in 2003. He is still doing his PhD in the same department.

He played and worked in stage management in the Jiyana Nu theater for four years after 1992. He has been working in the Mesopotamia Cinema Collective and Yapım13, which he co-founded, since 1996.

His first feature-length film is "Fotoğraf" (Photograph). His short film "Ax" (Soil) received six prizes in total in and outside Turkey. He also directed two documentaries. His films are as follows:

"Fotoğraf" (2001), "Uzak" (Distant) (2005), "Fırtına/Bahoz" (Storm) (2008), "Bir Varmış Bir Yokmuş/He Bû Tune Bû" (Once Upon a Time) (2014) and "Zer" (2017). (HA/SD)