OBS Releases Report on Pınar Selek’s Trial Process

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OBS) released its April 2014 International Observation Mission Report on the 16-year long judicial proceeding of Pınar Selek, a sociologist sentenced to life for her “involvement” in 1998 Egyptian Bazaar Explosion. The release preceded her appeal trial in Supreme Court of Appeals 9th Criminal Division on April 30. 

Pınar Selek, a minority rights advocate, focused her work on the field. She was found guilty of the July 9th, 1998 Mısır Bazaar explosion, got acquitted three times but received a life sentence in the end. On April 30, Supreme Court of Appeals 9th Criminal Division is expected to deliver her verdict. 

Martin Pradel, lawyer at the Paris Bar Association, was mandated by the OBS to observe several hearings of Pınar Selek’s trials between 2010 and 2013.  The report stated that the entire procedure is full of serious human rights violations from the time of Pınar Selek’s arrest, through detention, trial and conviction. 

Here are some of the highlights from the report:

* Police arrested Pınar Selek due to her “suspicious activities”, she was not allowed to receive any legal assistance from a lawyer for 2.5 years and she was tortured during her detention time.

* Neglecting the evidence which proved that the explosion was due to a gas leakage, confessions of Abdülmecit Öztürk and other defendants that they made their statements under severe torture, an unsigned and undated report suddenly coming up three years after the explosion

* A panel of new judges reversed the acquittal decision of an earlier panel that examined witnesses and taken evidence, none of the new panel judges took any evidence nor examined any witnesses, the confession of Abdülmecit Öztürk was found inadmissible against him yet the same court found the same confession admissible against Pınar Selek, The Istanbul Special Heavy Criminal Court No.12 has revoked its own ruling of acquittal and gave a second ruling which is unprecedented not only in the history of Turkish law but in the world history of law, and all of the other procedural irregularities
* Pınar Selek’s right to receive a fair hearing in public and within reasonable time was repeatedly violated, judges often refused to speak loudly enough to be heard, Pınar Selek being kept uncertain about her legal fate for 16 years and this delay becoming a psychological torture towards her 

*Turkish authorities insistence of issuing a Red Notice by INTERPOL even though the INTERPOL decided to destroy all files related to Pınar Selek’s Red Notice Alert because it was not in compliance with INTERPOL’s rules, Turkish authorities insistence creating a psychological harassment on  Pınar Selek and restricting her freedom of movement
*In addition, the report includes recommendations regarding Pınar Selek’s situation to the relevant authorities in Turkey and to the Government of France, the European Union, the United nations and the international community at large. (ENÜ/HK/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.