24.11.2010
On 23 and 24th of November 2010, Pınar Selek Case was once again on the front pages of newspapers in the headlines. All the national newspapers and televisions such as Radikal, Sabah, Vatan, Taraf, Takvim, Hürriyet, Sabah, Milliyet, Zaman, Birgün, Haber Türk, Cumhuriyet, Taraf, Vatan, TRT 1, CNN TÜRK, NTV, Hayat Tv, TGRT and Kanal D gave the news of Pınar Selek case. Some of the televisions and newspapers also gave interviews with Pınar Selek and her father as her lawyer. Supreme Court Criminal General Assembly requests life time sentence for Pınar Selek who had already acquitted twice. Supreme Court Criminal General Assembly has sent the case back to the Istanbul High Criminal Court number 12 which had given the decision of acquittal. The trial will start once again on 9th of February 2011 in Istanbul High Criminal Court number 12.
Pınar Selek case has turned to a unique law scandal. Here are some notes from the case;
On 9th of July, 1988, an explosion happened in the historical Spice Bazaar of Istanbul and many people died. The police’s expert teams which came to the crime scene prepared three separate reports on the explosion, each report being presented a day after the previous one. The result: “The explosion is most certainly NOT due to a bomb.” And, the event was reported on all newspapers and television channels as being due to a gas leakage.
A couple of days later, the sociologist Pınar Selek, who was researching the Kurdish issue and the war it has resulted in, and who had conducted oral history interviews with many people, was taken under custody by the police. Not only did the police confiscate her research, but they also tortured Selek in order to make her give the names of the people she had interviewed. When she did not give up any name whatsoever, Selek was arrested and charged with aiding and abetting “an illegal organization.”
A month later, Pınar Selek was depicted as the perpetrator of the explosion in the Spice Bazaar. Then, Pınar Selek was also included into the court case opened in the Istanbul High Criminal Court number 12, about the explosion in the Spice Bazaar. On the official written accusation Pınar Selek was charged with “placing a bomb in the Spice Bazaar with Abdülmecit Öztürk, upon the directive of the (PKK) and being a member of the afore-mentioned organization.”
As the court case proceeded, every allegation that was made against Pınar was disproven by the defense, one by one. The other defendant Abdülmecit Öztürk, who was shown as the grounds for the accusation against Pınar Selek, emphasized, from the very first day he was brought to court, that he had given that statement under pressure and torture and he even did not meet Pınar ever. In the meantime, the expert report formed upon the demand of the court explained that the explosion had most certainly not been caused by a bomb.
Pınar Selek was released after 2 and half years.
However, the case continued. Throughout this process, as part of the public campaign about Pınar being innocent, hundreds of intellectuals and human rights activists attended the court hearings in order to support Pınar Selek. When it was understood after the court hearings which lasted until 2008, in which Selek was held on trial without arrest, that all the allegations that the explosion was caused by a bomb were invalid, Pınar Selek was acquitted on 23.05.2008.
However, the Prosecutor who filed the lawsuit went for an appeal against the Istanbul High Criminal Court number 12’s decision of acquittal, before the Criminal Office No. 9 of Supreme Court. The Criminal Office No. 9 of Supreme Court which examined the file reversed the judgment on procedure. The court, however, insisted upon its decision. On 10th of March 2009, the Criminal Office No. 9 of Supreme Court decided upon the reversal of the acquittal on merits for the second time and demanded Pınar Selek to be judged with a claim of 36 years of heavy imprisonment. What was shown as grounds for this claim was the accusation made by Abdülmecit Öztürk, which he himself had denied in court. The very same court approved the decision of the acquittal of Abdülmecit Öztürk, who was the only reason Pınar was being accused with this crime and who had stated that they had “committed this act together.” The court also did not take the 6 expert reports which said that the “explosion had not been caused by a bomb” into account.
The Head prosecutor of the Supreme Court stated that the reasons the Criminal Office No. 9 of Supreme Court had presented for reversing the judgment were not adequate and that the decision made by the local court had been valid. Therefore, on 16th of September 2009 the Head prosecutor presented his objection to the Supreme Court Criminal General Assembly. The Head prosecutor clearly expressed that Selek could not be accused solely on grounds of the allegations made by Abdülmecit Öztürk, without this being supported by any other evidence whatsoever. Upon this, the case was sent to the Supreme Court Criminal General Assembly. On 09th of February 2010 the Criminal General Assembly rejected the Head prosecutor’s objection and sent the case back to the Istanbul High Criminal Court number 12 which had given the decision of acquittal. The trial will be held on 9th of February 2011 in Istanbul High Criminal Court number 12.
ISTANBUL