Caselist - PEN International

66defendants had been held for almost five years without conclusion oftheir trial, flouting the European Convention on Human Rights. Scufflesbroke out at this hearing after one of the defendants attempted to makea speech commemorating a person who had ben killed by the military in1995. The next hearing is due on 13 October 2011. Place of Detention.Namaz and Senoglu, are held in Edirne F Type Prison. Çiçek and Ulusoywere detaned in Tekirdeg F Type Prison until their release in May 2011.Update: In May 2011, Ibrahim Çiçek and Ziya Ulusoy were freedpending trial. Sedat Senoglu and Fusun Erdogan had their detentionterms extended. No news on Bayram Namaz. Çiçek is running for electionas an independent candidate for the presidential elections in June 2011.Hamdiye ÇIFTIÇI (f): reporter for the DIHA newsagency detainedsince 6 June 2010. Among a number of people detained on raids carriedout in connection with arrests of members of the Kurdistan Communities/Turkey Assembly (KCK/TM) which includes the banned KurdishWorkers Party (PKK). She is said to be an executive of the pro-KurdishPeace and Democracy Party (BDP) in Hakkari. In March 2011 it is saidthat no formal indictment had yet to be made. She has appealed againsther detention three times.*Hatice DUMAN (f): Atilim (Leap) magazine owner and editor. Said tobe detained in September 2011 on a life sentence for membership of anillegal organisatoin, the Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MKLP)*Dilsah ERCAN: Yorum (Comment) and Yeni Özgür Halk (New FreePeople) journalist said in September 2011 to be detained serving an eightyear and nine month sentence.*Ruken ERGÜN: editor of Azadiya Welt. Detained as of November 2011.See Ozan Kilinç and Vedat Kursun below.*Mustafa GÖK: Emek ve Adalet journalist said in September 2011 to bestill on trial.*Cengiz KAPMAZ: author of Öcalan’s Days on Imrali arrested on 22November 2011 in Istanbul as part of a mass arrest, mainly of lawyers,related to the KCK operation – see elsewhere for similar arrests. Notknown if still in detention. On 10 December, around 50 journalists andintellectuals gathered in Istanbul’s Taksim Square calling for an end toattacks on Özgür Gündem, for which Kapmaz also wrote, and specificallyfor his release.*Mehmet KARABAS: journalist for the Batman Post. Reported detainedas of November 2011.*Abdullcebbar KARABEG: Azadiya Welat journalist said in September2011 to be detained serving a seven year and one month sentence.*Mehmet KARAASLAN: DIHA Mersin representativ. Reported inSeptember 2011 to still be detained serving a six year and one monthsentence*Hamdullah KESEN, Sehmus KABAK: reporters for Diha Newsagencyand Azadiya Welat respectively among 11 people arrested on 7 September2011 on charges of being members of the banned Kurdistan Workers’Party (PKK) in Adana. Not clear if still detained.*Dilek KESKIN: Atilim Istanbul reporter. Said to be detained inSeptember 2011 on a four year two months sentence for membership ofan illegal organisatoin, the Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MKLP)*Deniz KILIÇ: journalist for Azadiya Welat in Batman. Reported detainedin November 2011.Ozan KILINÇ: chief editor of the Diyabakir based Kurdish languageAzadiya Welat. Sentence: Sentenced 11 February 2010 to 21 years inprison under the Anti Terror Law for membership of the Kurdish WorkersParty (PKK). Said to be linked to his publication of 12 editions of hisnewspaper containing references to the PKK. Each edition attracteda 15-month sentence, making the total 21 years. He got a six year andthree month additional sentence for “committing a crime for an illegalorganisation without himself being a member of the illegal organisation”.His defence said that the newspaper had only referred to the PKK leaderAbdullah Ocalan (now imprisoned) as the “leader of the Kurdish people”and failed to call Turkish soldiers killed in battle as “martyrs”. Kilinç wasnot present at the trial and an arrest warrant was issued. Reuters reportsthat Azadiya Welat has had to replace 6 editors in 3 years because theyhave been arrested or have had to flee the country. Re-arrest: Kilinç wasarrested on 22 July 2010 during a police raid on his home in Diyabakirfive months after his conviction. Appeal: In February 2011 his previous21 year sentence was overturned as being too high. Sentence: On 11 April2011 he was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison. His requestfor his trial to be held in Kurdish was refused. Imprisoned: Diyabakir.Vedat KURSUN: editor and owner of Azadiya Welat newspaper.Sentenced in May 2010 to a total of 166 years and six months in prisonfor having published a series of articles between September 2006 andAugust 2007 seen to be supporting and promoting the PKK. Convictedunder Articles 220/6 and 314/2 of the Penal Code for making propagandafor an illegal organisation (the PKK) and Article 7/2 of the Anti TerrorLaw for sending directions to the PKK through the press. 12 years ofhis sentence relate to alleged membership of an illegal organisation, themaximum sentence that can be made. The remaining sentences have beenmade under the anti terror law which has been applied to each of 103articles written by Kursun and seen to be PKK propaganda. Kursun wasarrested in January 2009 in relation to another trial. Lawyers are baffledby the sentences, pointing out that Kursun has never committed violence,only expressed his views. They will appeal the sentence. Kursun hasbeen in detention since September 2009. Reported still detained as ofNovember 2011.*Bayram PARLAK: Gündem Mersin representative said in September2011 to be detained serving a six year and three month sentence.*Erdal SÜSEM: September Prison (Eylül Hapishane) magazine editor.Said to be detained in September 2011 on a life sentence for membershipof an illegal organisatoin, the Marxist Leninist Communist Party(MKLP)*Azia TUNÇ: author. Arrested in early October 2011 as part of a crackdownrelated to the Party for Peace and Democracy (BDP) Author ofAnalysis and Background to the Marash Massacre and at the time of hisarrest working on Marash History and Multiculturalism. [The MarashMassacre was an incident in early 1920 during the Franco Turkish War.French forces who had occupied this south eastern city, fled under attackby the Turkish National Forces headed by Pasha Mustafa Kemal, laterto become President. Previously the French had repatriated thousands ofArmenians to perceived safety in Marash, 5,000-12,000 of whom werekilled by Turkish forces after the occupiers left.]*Faysal TUNÇ: DIHA journalist reported in September 2011 to still bedetained serving a six year and three month sentence.*Halim YAZICI: poet and member of PEN Turkey. Arrested in his hometown of Izmir on 22 November 2011 allegedly on charges of financialcorruption and membership of a criminal group. Among 40 others werearrested. He is a cultural advisor to the Izmir Greater municipality.Izmir’s mayor is a member of the opposition CHP and there are suggestionsthat the arrests may be politically motivated. He was arrested earlierin the year, 2 May 2011, and held for four days for being a member ofa criminal gang, then released when it was concluded that there was noevidence. It is said that he was re-arrested for the same reason when anew District Attorney took up the post he made the decision to re-detainYazici. PEN is seeking confirmation he is still detained.*Aydin YILDIZ, Kazim SEKER, Tayip TEMEL: reporter for the DicleNews Agency (DIHA), editor of Özgür Gündem and writer and formergeneral publication director of Azadiya Welat. All are Kurdish publications.Arrested between 1 and 4 October 2011 as part of a mass arrestof around 60 members of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party .Yildiz and Temel were arrested in Diyabakir in south east Turkey. Sekerwas arrested on 4 October in Istanbul. Believed to be detained under theanti terror law. (Also see another trial against Temel, below)*Dursun YILDIZ: author and lecturer at the Free University in Istanbul.Arrested early October 2011 under a crackdown against the Party forPeace and Democracy (BDP). Author of A Pedagogic View on Freedom,2003 and A Pedagogic View on Migration, 2011.On Trial/Charged (not detained)Necati ABAY: journalist and spokesperson for the Solidarity Platform forImprisoned journalists. Sentenced on 4 May 2011 by the 12 th High CriminalCourt of Istanbul to 18 years and 9 months in prison on charges of being theleader of a “terrorist organisation”, the Marxist Leninist Communist Party(MLKP). Abay was arrested by anti terrorist police on 13 April 2003 whilehe was a columnist and editor of Atilim. He claims that he was arrested onevidence of conspiracy gained from a person he had never met and fromwhom the information was extracted under torture. The investigating judgeagreed that the statement was not feasible and released Abay after four days.However he was re-arrested only to be freed pending the trial outcome on3 October 2003. He is convicted under Article 168/1 of the Penal Code.He remained free for almost 8 years, and continues to be free pending hisappeal. His defence lawyer argues that evidence was gathered using tortureand the basis of the trial was simply on the defendant’s political convictionsand not acts.*Haldun AÇIKSÖZLÜ: director of the play Laz Marks. Latest hearingheld on 30 September 2011 at Tunceli Magistrate’s Criminal Court oncharges under Article 215. Trial opened in November 2010.Irfan AKTAN, Merve EROL: both journalists are on trial, facingimprisonment on charges of “spreading PKK propaganda” in an articlefor Express magazine which allegedly constituted a violation of article7 of the Anti-Terror Act on “Spreading propaganda for an illegalorganization”. Their article, entitled “Weather Conditions in the Regionand in Qandil / No Solution without Fighting” contained statements froma PKK/Kongra-Gel member and a one sentence quotation from the ÖzgürHalk (‘Free People’) magazine. Aktan faces five years imprisonment,Erol a monetary fine of up to TL 20,000 (€ 10,000). Update: On 4 June2011, the Istanbul 11th High Criminal Court sentenced journalist IrfanAktan to imprisonment of one year and three months. Editorial managerMerve Erol received a monetary fine of TL 16,000 (€ 8,000) for the articlepublished in the 99th issue of the magazine. Aktan is presumed free onappeal.*Murat ALTÜNOZ: Antakya based journalist on trial for articles he wrotefor the Democratic Culture and Arts Association whose offices wereraided prior to the arrest. Charged with membership of an illegal organisationunder Article 314 for which he could get between 5-10 years, andalso under Article 7(2) of the ATL for propaganda for an illegal organisationfor which he could get 1-5 years in prison. A hearing was to be heldbefore the Adana High Court on 15 September 2011.*Ilkem Ezgi ASAM (f): journalist for Birgün sentenced to one year inprison on 13 December 2011 for a “boxed” comment alongside anothernews item in which she referred to a human rights organisation accusinga general of involvement in two massacres in the early 1990s. [Anothersource suggests the sentence was 10 months.] A complaint was made bythe said general, under the Anti Terror Law Article 6 that penalises writingsthat could identify people as possible targets for terrorist attacks..Asam is free on appeal.Ercan ATAY: Batman Newspaper editor on trial 28 March 2011 forpublishing commentary by a PKK leader on his organisation’s mineswhere there had been a fatal explosion. On 8 June 2011 he was sentencedto one month and one week under Article 215 of the Penal Code for“praising crime and a criminal”. Believed to be free on appeal.*Fatih Özgür AYDIN: Engineering Architecture and Planning +Acceleration Magazine editor-in-chief. Arrested 22 July 2011 andcharged with propaganda for a terrorist organisation under Article 7/2 ofthe ATL, Article 215 for “praising offences and offenders”, and resistingpolice officers in their duty Artice 265, and laws governing meetings.Theoretically he faces over 50 years in prison. First hearing set for 15November 2011. Not clear if detained.Ismail BESIKÇI: sociologist and author. Accused in June 2010 of“making propaganda for the PKK” under the Anti Terror Law for anarticle published in the Contemporary Lawyer’s Association periodical.Zeycan Balci Simsek, editor of the periodical, was accused alongsideBesikçi. The article’s title is ‘Right to Self Determination and the Kurds’.Both first appeared at the Istanbul High Criminal Court on 28 July 2010at a trial attended by hundreds of supporters. Sentences of up to 7.5 yearseach were suggested. In the court Besikçi stated that if Turkey wished togain influence in the Balkans and Caucusus, it would first have to dealwith the Kurdish problem, which should not be the tackled by prosecutorsand business people, but by academics, journalists and philosophers.Simsek argued that the aim of the articles was to promote debate and thatat the time the article was published, there were no armed conflicts in theregion. Sentence: On 4 March 2011, Besikçi was sentenced by a courtin Istanbul to one year and six months in prison, reduced to one year andthree months. Simsek was sentenced to a fine. It is presumed that Besikçiis free on appeal. Background: Besikçi spent many years in prison in the1990s during which time he was a main case for International PEN.Haci BOGATEKIN: The editor of local “Gerger Fırat” newspaper whichis said to have a circulation of only around 200 copies. 1) On trial on 15October 2008 for an article ‘Feto and Apo’ published January 2008. Chargedwith insult to a public offical and attempting to influence a trial. Hearingheld on 5 February 2009 led to a walk out by the defence lawyers, claimingthat they did not believe that a fair trial was possible and recommended thatanother judge preside the case and that a new defence counsel be provided.PEN has since learned that he subsequently spent 109 days in prison underthis charge. On 8 March 2010, he was sentenced to five years and five weeksin prison. He is free pending appeal. 2) In December 2008, he was sentencedto two years in prison on charges of “insulting” public officials for articles inhis newspaper on a corruption trial that led to the imprisonment of a mufti inAdiyaman for having misused money collected by mosques aimed at helpingthe families of seasonal workers who had lost their lives. Free on appeal. 3)On 27 October 2009, Bogatekin was sentenced in absentia to two years andtwo months in prison under Article 125 of the Penal Code for “insult to publicofficials”. Relates to an article by Bogatekin published on 28 February 2008in which he states that a prosecutor and several police officers had conspiredto force his newspaper out of business. Despite that he had informed the courtthat he was in Istanbul receiving medical treatment on the day of the trial, thetrial went ahead without him present. Free on appeal. 4) In February 2010, amember of the ruling AKP party filed against against Bogatekin for an articlethat he saw attacked his “personal rights” published in September 2009,entitled ‘Mercy Miro Mercy Piro”. If convicted, Bogatekin faces a fine. Histrial is still under way with the next hearing set for 8 September 2011. 67