TRIAL OF ACADEMICS
One Academic Sentenced to 1 Year, 6 Months 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 yesterday (March 5).
18 academics had their hearings at three different court:
At the İstanbul 29th Heavy Penal Court: Prof. Dr. Ümit Biçer from Kocaeli University had his first hearing.
At the İstanbul 26th Heavy Penal Court: Dr. Lecturer Başak Tuğ Onaran from İstanbul Bilgi University had her final hearing.
At the İstanbul 23rd Heavy Penal Court: Research Assistants Kudret Çobanlı and S.H., Assoc. Prof. Evren Hoşgör and Prof. Dr. Ertuğrul Tonak from Boğaziçi University; Dr. Lecturer Esra Sakınç and Lecturer İrfan Eroğlu from Maltepe University; Dr. Lecturer Gamze Toksoy, Prof. Dr. Sefa Feza Arslan and Assoc. Prof. Özgür Martin from Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts (MSGSÜ); Research Assistant Zeynep Güney from Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University; PhD student D.G. from Washington University; Assoc. Prof. Sevgi Uçan Çubukçu from İstanbul University; Dr. Lecturer Zeki Kanay from Dicle University; Lecturer Mesut Coşkun from Munzur University; Dr. Lecturer Seda Altuğ from Boğaziçi University; and PhD student B.K. from York University had their second hearings.
18-month deferred prison sentence for one academic
At the 28th Heavy Penal Court, the court board announced its judgement on academic Başak Tuğ Onaran and ruled that she shall be sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK).
While the announcement of the verdict has been suspended*, her 18-month prison term has not been reduced as "she did not express remorse."
Case files of 6 academics combined
At the İstanbul 23rd Heavy Penal Court, academics Esra Sakınç, Seda Altuğ, Gamze Toksoy, Evren Hoşgör Çimen, İrfan Eroğlu and Sefa Feza Arslan presented their statements of defense. The court board ruled that the case files of six academics shall be combined.
For academics Zeki Kanay and Mesut Coşkun, who respectively live in Diyarbakır and Dersim, the court board passed a decision of rejection of venue. The court board also ruled that it shall be waited until the academics living abroad make their defense through rogatory.
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 5, 2019, 493 academics had stood trial since December 5, 2017, all the 139 academics whose cases were concluded have been sentenced to prison. 100 of these academics were sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison; 5 academics to 1 year and 6 months in prison; 14 academics to 1 year, 10 months and 15 days in prison; 15 academics to 2 years and 3 months in prison; two academics have been sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison; one academic has 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, the verdict/sentence is removed in the event that the person does not commit an intentional crime in five years.
(TP/SD)