Caselist - PEN International

68Mustafa Kemal ÇELIK: publisher of the Batman Postasi newspaperwas on trial at the Batman 2 nd Magistrate’s Court on 12 May 2011 underPenal Code Articles 215 and 218 for an article on a member of a guerillagroup. Next hearing set for 17 October 2011.Adnan DEMIR: director of Taraf. (1) Next hearing due on 25 January2012 for an article published on Taraf’s website with comments bySebnem KORUR (f) also on trial. There are reportedly 80 cases againstTaraf. (2) Hearing set for 9 December 2011 for publishing interviews onTaraf with alleged members of the banned PKK/Kongra Gel.Emine DEMIR (f): dob 1985. Former editor of the Kurdish languagedaily Azadiye Welat. Sentenced to 138 years in prison on charges ofpropagating the cause of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)on 30 December 2010. She did not attend the hearing. In the defensestatement, Demir’s lawyer Servet Özen said that his client had not actedunder PKK orders and demanded that the opinions stated in her articles,which is the basis of the charges against her, had to be treated withinthe context of freedom of expression. The court handed down sentencesunder Article 314 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), for propagatingthe cause of the PKK and committing crimes in its name. Demir wassentenced to 84 consecutive sentences of 10 years and six months -- theterm stipulated in the criminal code for aiding a terrorist organizationwithout being a member -- over news stories printed in 84 different issuesof Azadiye Welat.[Zaman, 31/12/10] totalling 138 years. She is believedto be free pending appeal.Temel DEMIRER: writer. Reported in January 2008 to be standing trialbefore the Ankara Penal Court of First Instance under Article 216 (incitingenmity) and Article 301 (insult to the state) for a speech against the January2007 murder of Hrant Dink in which he said “I invite all here to commit acrime. Yes, there was an Armenian genocide in this country.” And then urgedTurkish intellectuals that if they did not themselves commit “this crime of301 301 times” they too could be accomplices to the murder of Hrant Dink.A hearing held 15 May 2008 resulted in the court forwarding the case tothe Ministry of Justice following ammendments to Article 301 put in placein April 2008. In early September 2008, the Ministry granted approval andthe case opened in November 2008. Concern was expressed in November2008 about comments made by the then Minister of Justice Mehmet AliSahin in declaring the decision to proceed by stating that Demirer had madestatements calling the Turkish state “murderous” and thus should be exemptfrom freedom of expression protection. Observers are concerned that suchstatements are tantamount to proclaiming guilt and could bring Demirerto the attention of extremists who threaten and attack those who refer toan Armenian genocide. Demirer’s request to have the Minister of Justice’sdecision annulled as being interference in the independence of the judiciarywas heard on 12 May 2009 and its outcome to be announced later. Nexthearing of Demirer’s case will be on 28 March 2012..Rüstü DEMIRKAYA, Tayip TEMEL, Orhan MIROGLU: twojournalists and a writer respectively. Said in November 2009 to have beensentenced under the Anti Terror Law to one year 10 months, one year andtwo years and four months in prison respectively. Also sentenced wasKurdish politician, Leyla Zana. Appeal hearings under way in Ankarawith next set for 1 November 2011.Busra ERDAL (f), Metin ARSLAN: reporters for Zaman on trial in April2011 for articles on the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer investigations on acomplaint brought by two judges involved in the investigation who claimthat the articles made them targets for attack. The prosecutor demandedtheir acquittal citing that the comments in the articles are within legitimategrounds of criticism. The trial will resume on 9 September 2011.*Eren ERDEM: author of six books. His latest, Nurjuvazi, a book thatcomments on the Koran and the words of the Prophet Mohammed isbeing considered in early October 2011 for prosecution by Asya Bankfor sections that suggests that the Koran is anti-capitalist and that Islamicbanking is not possible. Asya Bank is one of Turkey’s leading Islamicbanks that meets Muslims’ preferences of not paying or being paidinterest on loans and of not becoming involved in any kind of investmentin companies that sell goods or services considered haram (forbidden) inIslamic teachings. The bank is reportedly considering filing complaintsincluding incitement to hatred and hostility, anti-terror law, and insult.The bank has refused to comment. The book depicts on its cover the religiousleader Fetullah Gülen (see above) with a sports car and Erdogan’swife.Ertegrul KÜRKÇÜ: coordinator of the BIANET free expression website. Trial opened on 13 April 2011 on charges of defamation of judgesand a former prison and penitentiary head. PEN is seeking an update.*Haci ORMAN, Emin ORHAN: Sanat ve Hayat (Arts and Living)director and Daynisma (Solidarity) journalist, among a group of peoplearrested after a funeral of a political writer Kutsiye Bozoklar in 2009 andaccused of membership of the banned Marxist Leninist Communist Party(MKLP) with spreading propaganda under article 7 of the ATL. Next trialdue 22 December 2011.Aziz ÖZER: publisher and editor of Güney Periodical on trial 31 March2011 for an article and cartoon published in the periodical. PEN isseeking an update.Semra PELEK (f), Mustafa DOLU: editor of Aksam (no longer inoperation) and its editorial manager respectively. Both are accused forarticles on the Ergenekon investigation (see below). Pelek for editing anarticle ‘Questions to Firtina from Aydin Dogan, Rahmi Koç and Akçakoca’published on 5 January 2010. The case has been taken by retired generalIbrahim Firtina who has provided evidence to the Ergenekon prosecutors.First hearing held 1 November 2010. Both are accused under Article 285of the criminal code that relates to disclosing secret information relatingto an investigation and Article 288, for atttempting to “influence” theoutcome of a trial. Both face up to 8 years in prison. Next trial hearing setfor 13 December 2011.Irfan SANCI, Suha SERTABIBOGLU: publisher, Sel Publishinghouse and translator respectively. On trial on charges of obscenity underArticle 226 of the Penal Code for publishing in Turkish the US author,William Burroughs’ Soft Machine first published in English in 1961. TheBoard for the Protectin of Minors from Obscene Publications pronouncedthe book as “not compatible with the morals fo society and the people’shnonour”, “injurious to sexuality” and “generally repugnant”. The firsthearing was held on 6 July 2011, and several hearings have since beenheld, with the next set for 18 January 2012. Background: In 2010 Selpublishing hosue was similarly tried for obscenity for publishing severalbooks in translation including Guillaume Apollinaire’s Adventures of theYoung Don Juan for which he was acquitted. Sanci was the winner of the2010 International Publishers’ Association Freedom Prize.Halil SAVDA: owner of website savaskarsitlari.org website. Trial openedin July 2010 for articles published on the site. Latest news is that thenext hearing has been set for 9 February 2012 before a court in Beyoglu,Istanbul. The charges are said to relate to an article ‘Agar: Claims andmore’ that had been previously published on another website. No furtherinformation. He is also among five people to be brought to the samecourt on the same day for having protested outisde the military courtin Eskisehir agains the trial of a conscientious objector whose case wasmade famous for the slogan “Everyone is born a baby” a play on anAtaturke slogan “Everyone (Turk) is born a soldier”.İsmail SAYMAZ: reporter for Radikal who stands accused of the “attemptto influence a fair trial” and “violating the secrecy of an investigation”,under Article 288 of the Turkish Criminal Code. The journalist facesa prison sentence of up to nine years. Saymaz is being tried for hisarticle “What they asked Cihaner” published in Radikal newspaper on18 February 2010. The first hearing was held at the Bakırköy (Istanbul)2 nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 23 June 2010. Journalist Saymazand editorial manager Hasan Çakkalkurt (see elsewhere) may faceimprisonment of up to 36 years in total. The next hearing of this case isset for 15 February 2012. Update: A total of six trials have been filedagainst Saymaz on the grounds of his news about the interrogations ofİlhan Cihaner, detained Chief Public Prosecutor of Erzincan (northeasternAnatolia), and İbrahim Şahin, former Deputy Head of the SpecialOperations Department. The cases were opened in April 2010 at the 2ndCriminal Court of First Instance in Bakırköy, Istanbul. Saymaz facesimprisonment of up to 54 years under charges of “attempting to influencea fair trial” and “violating the secrecy of an investigation” according toarticles 285 and 288 respectively of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK)2) On 20 April 2011 a case was filed against Saymaz by a prosecutor inErzerum for referring to him as a ‘post modernist’ in his book PostmodernJihad. First hearing set for 8 June led to the case being sent on to theIstanbul Magistrate’s Court. 3) A hearing was held on 23 November 2011for an article published with Hasan Çakkalkurt titled ‘Love Games atErgenekon’ and ‘Ergenekon Prosecutor Listens to Judge’. Accused ofinsult, breach of confidentiality and attempt to affect the outcome of atrial.Pinar SELEK (f): writer, academic and women’s rights activist. Also amember of PEN Turkey. In 1998, an explosion at a crowded marketplacein Istanbul led to the deaths of seven people and injured 127 others.Selek was among a number of people arrested and imprisoned in July1998 on accusation of causing the explosion. In December 2001 anexpert investigation concluded that there was not enough information toconfirm that the explosion was a bomb, the suggestion being that it hadbeen a tragic accident caused by a leak from a gas canister. Selek and theother defendants were freed after serving two and a half years in prison.However, in December 2005 a new trial was opened, which in June 2006was again dismissed due to lack of evidence that the explosion was abomb. However in March 2009 the Appeal Court requested a review ofthe case and reversed the acquittal. Again this went to consideration inMay 2009, and Selek was again acquitted. The appeal court once againobjected and sent the case to the Istanbul High Criminal Court for reviewonce again on 9 February 2010. Pinar Selek is now resident in Germany.There are concerns that she may be extradited to Turkey where she facesa life sentence. In August 2010 Selek’s case was raised at the Europeanparliament, and the European Commission accession unit confirmedthat it was aware of the case and it would discuss it with the Turkishauthorities. New information: An arrest warrant was requested in earlyJune 2011, now under consideration by the Supreme Court of Appeals.On 22 June a court hearing was postponed to 28 September 2011 as notall testimonies had been collected to enable a decision to bring the appealagainst the third acquittal to the Supreme Court. This hearing led to afurther postponement to 7 March 2012.*Semih SÖMEN, Müge SÖKMEN (f): Directors of the Metis PublishingHouse.Trial opened on 25 November for publishing in a calendar Illallah(I’ve had enough) agenda was published by Metis Publishing and printedin 2009. When it was introduced to the market, it touched upon thesubject of protection of the right to believe from organized religions, statebudgets and police or military force. In its introduction it read, “We, asthe ones who prepared this agenda, respect the right to believe. Yet wehave to mention that we have a slightly deeper respect for the right not tobelieve”. The document is said to include quotations from world famouswriters and thinkers including George Bernard Shaw, Einstein, Joyce andothers. The case was brought under Article 216 – incitement to religioushatred, by an individual complainant, Ali Emre Bukağılı, known forhaving taken similar cases against other publishing houses, such as thatwhich published Stephen Hawkin’s God Delusion and Nedim Güzel’sDaughters of God which were not successful in securing sentences. Thenext hearing is set for January 2012.Hakan TAHMAZ, Ibrahim ÇESMECIOGLU: journalist and generaldirector of Birgün. Under investigation in September 2008 after the 9August seizure of the newspaper. Accused of publishing an interviewwith a member of the banned KurdishWorkers party (PKK) carriedout at the PKK HQ in Qandil, Northern Iraq in an article entitled ‘AOne Sided Ceasefire is Making the Problem Worse’. The interviewee isquoted as saying that although the most people wanted the violence toend, the PKK would continue its “legitimate defensive war”. Both mendenied that they were carrying propaganda, and were simply carrying outlegitimate journalism. [It is reported in December 2011 that IbrahimÇESMECIOGLU has since died – information to be confirmed.]Tahmaz also referred to a book he is working on dealing with the conflictand his belief that the public needs access to all types of information onthe problems. He stressed that he is working towards an end to the conflictand the need to end the hostilities that he believes “is taking Turkey toa disaster”. Charged under Articles 4 and 6/2 of the Anti Terror Law formaking propaganda for an illegal organisation. On 24 March 2011 the10 th High Criminal Court in Istanbul sentenced Tahmaz to one year inprison, and Çesmecioglu to a fine. Tahmaz’s sentence was reduced to 10months. He is free pending appeal.Ferhat TUNÇ, Mehmet ÇOLAK: singer and editor-in-chief of ÖzgürGündem respectively. 1)Trial started on 2 December 2004 at the BeyogluCriminal Court on charges under article 159 of the Penal Code forinsulting the judiciary in an article Tunç wrote for the daily Gündem on19 January 2004 entitled “A Revolutionary Leyla and a Song”. They face1-3 years in prison if convicted. Hearings continued through to 2009. Thecase was referred to the Ministry of Justice for approval to continue asprescribed under the ammended Article 301. PEN is seeking an update.*Funda UNCU (F): translator. Interrogated in early July 2011 in Bodrum,Southern Turkey, after the Board for the Protection of Minors fromObscene Publications issued a complaint that against the US authorChuck Palahniuk’s Snuff. A trial under Article 266 of the Penal Code hasbeen filed with next hearing set for 18 January 2012.*Baris YARKADAS: journalist. On trial for insult to President Gül underarticle 299 held before the Kadiköy 2 nd Criminal Court in Istanbul.Opened on 21 June 2011 with next hearing set for 3 November 2011.(See also recent acquittal below)Possible prosecutionErgenekon case: persons listed as having been arrested and charged butno longer detained and unclear if prosecution still under way:Adnan AKFIRAT, Serhan BOLLUK: journalist, chief editor ofAydinlik. Free pending trial.Ahmet AKGÜL, Mevlut SUNGUR: editor in chief and writer forNational Solution respectively. Among a number of people arrested inthe Ergenekon case on 22 July 2008. 69