Academics İnci Özkan Kerestecioğlu, Biriz Berksoy and Canay Şahin have been sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison. The court board of the İstanbul 36th Heavy Penal Court has ruled that the announcement of all three verdicts shall be deferred.
Trial of academics, who have been charged with "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" for having signed the declaration entitled "We will not be a party to this crime" prepared by the Academics for Peace, continued in İstanbul Çağlayan Courthouse yesterday (February 5).
10 academics had their hearings at six different courts:
At the İstanbul 24th Heavy Penal Court: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şükrü Aslan from Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts (MSGSÜ) had his second hearing.
At the İstanbul 26th Heavy Penal Court: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aslı Davas from Ege University and Prof. Dr. Turgay Kurultay from Yaşar University had their first hearings.
At the İstanbul 27th Heavy Penal Court: Research Assistant Ferhat Yılmazfrom Artuklu University had his first hearing.
At the İstanbul 23rd Heavy Penal Court: Dr. Lecturer Taylan Koç, who was discharged from Çukurova University, had the first hearing.
At the İstanbul 36th Heavy Penal Court: Retired Assoc. Prof. Dr. İnci Özkan,Dr. Biriz Berksoy, Prof. Dr. Tülay Erkan from İstanbul University and Dr. Lecturer Canay Şahin from Yıldız Technical University (YTÜ) had their fourth hearings.
At the İstanbul 37th Heavy Penal Court: Retired Prof. Dr. S.S. from Boğaziçi University had the second hearing.
Prison sentence for 3 academics
At the İstanbul 36th Heavy Penal Court, academics Biriz Berksoy, İnci Özkan Kerestecioğlu and Canay Şahin have been each sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK).
The announcement of all three verdicts has been suspended.
At the İstanbul 37th Heavy Penal Court, the Prosecutor's Office announced its opinion as to the accusations and demanded that academic S.S. be penalized as per the first and second sentences of the Article 7/2 of the TMK.
About the Trials of Academics
On January 10, 2016, 1,128 academics published a declaration entitled "We will not be party to this crime" on behalf of the Academics for Peace initiative.
With the participation of further academics, the number of academics who have signed the declaration has reached 2,212.
With the indictment issued by the Prosecutor İsmet Bozkurt, lawsuits were filed against the academics on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article No. 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law No. 3713.
As of February 5, 2019, 468 academics had stood trial since December 5, 2017, all the 90 academics whose cases are concluded are sentenced to prison. 83 of these academics were sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison; 3 academics to 1 year and 6 months in prison; one academic to 2 years and 3 months in prison; one academic has been sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison; one academic has been sentenced to 2 years and 1 month in prison; and one academic has been sentenced to 3 years in prison.
The ones who did not request suspension of announcement of verdict
Until today, 11 academics have not accepted that the announcement of their verdicts be suspended. While seven of these academics have been sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison, three academics have been sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison and one academic has been sentenced to 2 years and 3 months in prison.
* Prof. Dr. Büşra Ersanlı - At the 32nd Heavy Penal Court - 1 year, 3 months in prison. While the sentence has been reduced, the announcement of the verdict has not been deferred.
* Prof. Dr. Zübeyde Füsun Üstünel - At the 32nd Heavy Penal Court - 1 year, 3 months in prison. The sentence has been reduced. The announcement of the verdict has not been deferred.
* Prof. Dr. Ayşe Erzan - At the 32nd Heavy Penal Court - 1 year, 3 months in prison. The sentence has been reduced, the announcement of the verdict has not been suspended.
* Prof. Dr. Nesrin Sungur Çakmak - At the 32nd Heavy Penal Court - 1 year, 3 months in prison. The sentence has been reduced, the pronouncement of the verdict has not been suspended.
* Prof. Dr. Özdemir Aktan - 1 year, 3 months in prison. While the sentence has been reduced, the pronouncement of the verdict has not been deferred.
* Lecturer Aslı Takanay - The verdict has not been pronounced.
* Assoc. Prof. Dr. Esra Arsan - The verdict has not been pronounced.
* Prof. Dr. Gülhan Türkay - 1 year, 3 months in prison. While the prison sentenced has been reduced, the pronouncement of the verdict has not been suspended.
* Dr. Lecturer Lütfiye Bozdağ - 1 year, 6 months in prison. Her prison sentence has not been reduced. The announcement of the verdict has not been deferred.
* Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı - 2 years, 6 months in prison. Korur Fincancı stated that she did not accept the suspension of the announcement of the verdict. Her sentence has not been suspended or reduced.
The ones whose statements were not taken
* Research Assistant Onur Baysal - At the 28th Heavy Penal Court - 1 year, 3 months in prison. The court deferred his sentence without demanding his statement about it.
* Dr. Yonca Güneş Yücel - At the 28th Heavy Penal Court - 1 year, 6 months in prison. It was claimed that the academic accepted the suspension of the announcement of the verdict though her statement was not taken. The verdict has been deferred on the condition of 2-year probation.
* Prof. Dr. Gençay Gürsoy - At the 37th Heavy Penal Court - His statement as to the suspension of the pronouncement of the verdict was never taken. He has been sentenced to 2 years and 3 months in prison.
On March 10, 2016, the Academics for Peace made a statement for press and shared with the public what they had been going through since the declaration "We will not be a party to this crime" was published. The academics Dr. Lecturer Esra Mungan, Dr. Lecturer Muzaffer Kaya, Assoc. Prof. Dr Kıvanç Ersoy (March 15, 2016) and Dr. Lecturer Meral Camcı (March 31, 2016), who read out the above-mentioned statement for press, were arrested on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article No. 7/2 of the Turkish Anti-Terror Law. They were released on April 2016. Upon the request of the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Justice granted a permission of trial as per the Article No. 301 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 301 on charges of "insulting the Turkish Nation, the State of the Republic of Turkey and the institutions and organs of the government."
(TP/SD)
Source: https://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/205218-15-month-deferre...