Ahead of the expected verdict for academic Dr Bülent Şık, who faces up to twelve years in jail for “disclosing classified information” after revealing the findings of his research that exposed toxic pollution that was a risk to public health, Amnesty international’s Senior Campaigner on Turkey Milena Buyum said:
Bulent Sik, a former Turkish academic, is charged with releasing research information he thought needed to be released to ensure the public safety. His hearing will be held on September 26th.
Having their final hearings in İstanbul and Kocaeli, four more academics have been acquitted in the wake of a verdict of “right violation” by the Constitutional Court. Academics for Peace have been acquitted by 17 courts across Turkey so far.
HDP MP Toğrul has submitted a law proposal to the parliament for the Academics for Peace who were expelled by Statutory Decrees to return to their posts.
Peoples' Democratic Party MP Dr. Mahmut Toğrul has submitted a law proposal to the Speaker's Office at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) for the return of the signatories of the Peace Declaration to their posts.
"Though the judges and prosecutors who found more than 200 academics guilty and penalized them and jurists in the Constitutional Court acted according to the same constitution and penal codes, why were their verdicts spread over such a large spectrum?"
While the prosecutor requested academic Akyüz be sentenced to prison, the court has acquitted her. A total of 106 academics have been acquitted so far.
The trials of the Academics for Peace continued today (September 12).
The hearing of Dr. Lecturer Latife Akyüz from Düzce University has been held at İstanbul Courthouse. Akyüz attended the hearing via Audio and Video Information System (SEGBİS).
Republican People's Party (CHP) Group Deputy Chair Özgür Özel has announced that they have submitted a bill of law to the Speaker's Office, requesting that 406 academics signatory to the peace declaration be reinstated and the unjust treatment they suffered be compensated.
Holding a statement for the press to share the bill of law with the public, Özel has indicated that they submitted the bill after the Constitutional Court ruled that the rights of Academics for Peace have been violated.
Academics Serdar Değirmencioğlu and Özlem Savaş have been acquitted by the 30th Heavy Penal Court in line with the Constitutional Court decision. The 25th Heavy Penal Court acquitted 12 academics without a public hearing.
Hearing of the academics who have been on trial for having signed the declaration entitled, "We will not be a party to this crime" continued today (September 11).
Five organizations called for the acquittal of the academics after Constitutional Court ruling.
Five psychology organizations have called on the authorities in Turkey to drop charges against the Academics for Peace, including Prof. Serdar Değirmencioğlu, the former president of the European Community Psychology Association (ECPA).
Twenty-two academics have been released so far after the Constitutional Court ruled in July that prison sentences violate the freedom of expression.
