Rights groups denounce 'unlawful' prison sentences in Özgür Gündem case
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Four defendants were given prison sentences on "terrorism" charges today (February 15) in the case concerning Özgür Gündem, a newspaper that was shut down during the state of emergency after the 2016 coup attempt.
The newspaper's grant holder Kemal Sancılı, managing editor İnan Kızılkaya and attorney Eren Keskin have been sentenced to 6 years and 4 months in prison for "being a member of a terrorist organization."
Also, Zana Kaya, the newspaper's editor in chief, has been sentenced to 1 year and 13 months in prison for "terrorist propaganda."
The Human Rights Association (İHD) and Milena Buyum, Amnesty International's Turkey campaigner, have released statements, expressing support for the defendants.
"Eren Keskin has dedicated her life to defending the rights of women, prisoners & fought for justice for the families of the disappeared," Buyum said on Twitter.
"She's a human rights lawyer who speaks out against injustice. This verdict flies in the face of her over three decades-long human rights work.
"This case that began in 2016 and in which linguist Necmiye Alpay and writer Aslı Erdoğan were acquitted last February is yet another shocking example of anti-terrorism laws being used to criminalize legitimate, peaceful activities. Full solidarity with Eren Keskin."
The İHD said the court "punished journalism" with its "unlawful" decision based on "false allegations."
"Reminding those who rule the state of the international human rights conventions that have been signed and implemented, the responsibilities imposed by Article 90 of the Constitution, and the ECtHR decision against Turkey, we warn them to immediately end rights violations regarding the freedom of the press, which is defined as the sine qua non of democracy and the most important need of the people's right to information, and freedom of thought and expression.
"We will continue to defend freedom of the press, thought and expression and to stand with journalists and press and media outlets that are subjected to oppression."
Özgür Gündem TrialsThe Editors-in-Chief on Watch campaign of Özgür Gündem daily began on May 3, 2016 and ended on August 7, 2016. The newspaper was closed by the Statutory Decree No. 675 issued under the State of Emergency. Investigations were filed against 49 of 56 editors-in-chief on watch, 11 of them have ended in verdicts of non-prosecution and 38 files have turned into lawsuits. Relying on the Articles 7(2) and 6(2) of the Anti-Terror Law No. 3713, the 38 Editors-in-Chief on Watch stood trial on the charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" and for "publishing and spreading statements of terrorist organizations. Cases in which court ruled no prosecutionİhsan Eliaçık, Sebahat Tuncel, Ahmet Abakay, Eşber Yağmurdereli, Hasip Kaplan, Işın Eliçin, Kemal Can, Mustafa Sönmez, Melda Onur, Uğur Karadaş, Nurcan Baysal. 1 of 38 cases droppedLawsuits were filed against 38 people, one of them has dropped. That is, as the charges brought against Deniz Türkali violated statutory limitations, they have been dropped. 188 months, 15 days in prison and 67 thousand TRY fineIn the trial of Editors-in-Chief on Watch, the court has announced its ruling on 34 people, namely: Şanar Yurdatapan, İbrahim Bodur, Cengiz Baysoy, Hüseyin Tahmaz, Çilem Küçükkeleş, Nadire Mater, Yıldırım Türker, Hasan Cemal, Faruk Balıkçı, Dicle Anter, Derya Okatan, Kumru Başer, Ayşe Batumlu, Jülide Kural, Murat Uyurkulak, Murat Çelikkan, Beyza Üstün, Nevin Erdemir, Hakkı Boltan, Hasan Hayri Şanlı, Tuğrul Eryılmaz, Hüseyin Aykol, Ayşe Düzkan, Ragıp Duran, Öncü Akgül, İhsan Çaralan, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Celal Başlangıç, Celalettin Can, Fehim Işık and Faruk Eren. 7 acquittalsThe court has given a ruling of acquittal for the following 7 people: Erol Önderoğlu, Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Ahmet Nesin, Hasan Hayri Şanlı, Nevin Erdemir, Hüseyin Tahmaz and Hakkı Boltan. 27 people sentenced to 293 months, 15 days in total27 people have been sentenced to 67 thousand TRY and 293 months and 15 days.
Cases of 3 people still continueCan Dündar, Said Sefa and Veysi Alta Kızılkaya's casesÖzgür Gündem Managing Editor İnan Kızılkaya is defendant in all 38 cases. His case was separated from the others in the trials together with the other Editors-in-Chief on Watch. İstanbul 23rd Heavy Criminal Court is combining Kızılkaya's case with the main trial. Lawsuits against 9 columnistsLawsuits were filed against the columnists of the newspaper Ömer Ağın, İmam Canpolat, İlham Bakır, Mehmet Şirin Taşdemir, Veysel Kemer, Yüksel Oğuz, Dilşah Kocakaya, Mehmet Ali Çelebi and Hüseyin Bektaş. Dilşah Kocakaya, İmam Canpolat and İlham Bakır have been sentenced to 15 months in prison each. While the prison term of Bakır has been deferred, those of Canpolat and Kocakaya have not been. Mehmet Ali Çelebi and Hüseyin Bektaş have been each sentenced to 1 year, 6 months in prison. The prison sentences have not been deferred. Özgür Gündem main trialIn the main trial, Özgür Gündem Consultant Board members Necmiye Alpay, Aslı Erdoğan, Ragıp Zarakolu, Filiz Koçali, Eren Keskin, Editors-in-Chief Zana Kaya, İnan Kızılkaya, Kemal Sancılı and Bilge Oykut are standing trial. In the hearing of the main trial held on April 10, 2019, the board of the İstanbul 23rd Heavy Penal Court ruled that Kemal Sancılı, the Grant Holder of the newspaper, should be released as he was convicted and sentenced to prison in another trial heard by the İstanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court. Sancılı is still behind bars. Moreover, while Eren Keskin is standing trial in 47 cases as the former permanent Editor-in Chief of Özgür Gündem, Hüseyin Aykol is standing trial in 38 cases as the former permanent Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper. |
(AS/VK)