Prosecutor Demands CHP İstanbul Chair Kaftancıoğlu be Penalized on 5 Different Charges

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Put on trial due to her social media posts from six years ago, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu had her second hearing at the İstanbul 37th Heavy Penal Court today (July 18).

CLICK - Hundreds Gather at Courthouse in Support of Kaftancıoğlu

Announcing his opinion as to the accusations, the prosecutor demanded that Kaftancıoğlu be penalized on charges of "insulting the President", "openly degrading the government of the Republic of Turkey", "inciting the public to enmity and hatred", "insulting a public officer due to his or her duty" and "propagandizing for a terrorist organization".

The court has given time to the defendant and her attorneys to prepare their defenses as to the accusations and ruled that the next hearing of the case shall be held on September 6, 2019.

Only journalist allowed into hall was from AA

While the police and security personnel of the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan took strict security measures, police officers set up a barrier on the floor where the court hall was located to prevent entries.

The court was completely full and, by the order of the Presiding Judge, only the reporter of the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) was allowed into the court hall to follow the hearing. Apart from the AA reporter, no journalists were allowed into the court hall and several people who came to the courthouse to watch the hearing had to wait outside the hall.

Request for a larger hall rejected

The hearing began at around 10 a.m. Before Kaftancıoğlu started presenting her statement of defense, her attorneys requested that the hearing be transferred to a larger hall. The court rejected the request on the ground that the process of recusation had not yet been finalized.

Kaftancıoğlu made her defense

Making her defense, Kaftancıoğlu stated the following in brief:

"I hope that it will be possible for me to say 'So be it, there are judges in İstanbul' in the face of the ones who do not display the minimum respect for freedom of thought and expression and launch a lynch campaign.

"We need to make a decision: Will we live as individuals observing the principles and requirements of equal citizenship-based democratic societal order and intellectual accumulation of the Republic?

"Or will we live as the servants of an authoritarian regime, where all types of rights and legal concepts are left to the preference and appreciation of the government and all types of inconsiderate and disproportional sanctions are imposed against thoughts and their expression?

"I previously said that it was a dream which brought me here, to this court hall. And I know that I am not the only person who is put on trial due to her dreams, but I hope to be the last. I will struggle for that."

Question of plaintiff's attorney rejected

After Kaftancıoğlu presented her statement of defense, a plaintiff's attorney asked her, "If you describe the tweets that you posted at the night of July 15 as political satire and freedom of expression, what kind of stance did you maintain at coup night?". The Presiding Judge rejected the question.

Requests of Kaftancıoğlu's attorneys rejected

The attorneys of Canan Kaftancıoğlu submitted their requests for the extension of prosecution and return of the bill of indictment. The court rejected these request as well.

Afterwards, the prosecutor announced his opinion as to the accusations, foreseeing a prison sentence of up to 17 years.

Grating time to the defendant and her attorneys for their defenses as to the accusations, the court has adjourned the hearing to September 6.

Kaftancıoğlu: I will not keep silent at any cost

Addressing the crowd in front of the courthouse after her second hearing, Kaftancıoğlu said, 

"I do not know why, but the judiciary remembers me only in election times. These are not coincidences but a judicial engineering. Until putting an end to the tutelage of the [ruling] AKP, I will not keep silent whatever it may cost and I will not stay back from struggle.

"I am calling to the ones who swing the judiciary as a knife towards the ones who are not one of them: There were those who tried people, whose innocence was proved after they died in prison. Where are they now?" (TP/EKN/SD)

* Photographs: Tansu Pişkin / bianet