Think, think Freedom of Expression Weekly Bulletin (Issue 51/17, 29 December 2017) What happened last week? *** Two new Statutory Decrees were issued within the State of Emergency. Many amendments were enacted on the judicial practice and prison rules, besides more people dismissed from public service. Further amendments were made in articles regulating the right to appeal, right to defense, prisoners right to visitors and the principle of equality before law. The most prominent application enacted, however, was the application of practical immunity for civilians who allegedly act in accordance with the fight against terrorist activities as well as the coup attempt. (Details below...) *** The new emergency decrees caused heavy debates due to the judicial immunity for civilians and uniform for prisoners. Oppositional parties, lawyers and rights organizations interpreted the decrees as the end of the state of law. Following reactions the party in power announced that the application of immunity in the emergency decree only concern the night of the coup attempt. resident Erdoğan then put an end to the debates with the expressions: We will do what we see right, and we will continue on our way. *** The Council of Europe stated that developments in connection to the two latest emergency decrees were evaluated and lead to concern. *** Erdoğan accused Syrian resident Bashar Assad of applying government terror, indicating the impossibility for them to collaborate with Assad. On the other hand, Turkey s purchase of four S-400 rocket defense system batteries from Russia for 2.5 billion dollars was announced. Turkey will be the first NATO country to possess the batteries. *** The Constitutional Court decided that some clauses of the Law of Meetings and Demonstrations No. 2911 violate the Constitution. (Details below...) *** Ankara Chief ublic rosecutor s Office announced that the application ByLock, considered to be an important evidence in coup attempt investigations for being the encrypted communication network of FETO, was downloaded to the phones of 11,480 people outside of their own will. The rosecutor s Office stated that the cases of such people will be re-evaluated within the investigations. *** The fifth hearing of the case against Cumhuriyet Newspaper writers and executives was held at Istanbul 27th High Criminal Court. In the case with 29 defendants, five of them arrested, the defendant's right to defense was seized. The defense statement of journalist Ahmet Şık was interrupted by the Chief Judge, Şık was kicked out of the hearing room. Arrested journalists were not released. (Details below...) *** The year 2017 has been quite eventful in terms of politics. From the perspective of the eople s Democratic arty (HD), the second biggest opposition party in the arliament, the year passed back and forth between the arliament and court halls. Following simultaneous arrests against Ms on 4 November 2016, at least 23 more Ms
were taken into custody and arrested on various dates. Nine M are still arrested. At least 330 hearings were held in cases filed against HD Ms since 1 January 2017. Arrested Ms were not brought to many of the hearings. Operations of custody and arrest were not limited to HD Ms; the party s members and executives took their part as well. According to the data recorded by the Data rocessing Unit of HD between February 1st and November 24th, at least 6,750 people were taken into custody and 1,864 people were arrested in the operations against HD. *** Teacher Ayşe Çelik was sentenced to 1 year and three months of imprisonment due to saying, Do not let children die in a TV show she connected to via phone call. Her statement was made during the time of heavy curfews in Southeastern Turkey. Çelik will soon be imprisoned, together with her newborn baby. (Details below...) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two new Statutory Decrees issued Two new Statutory Decrees No. 695 and 696 within the State of Emergency were issued on the Official Gazette. Almost no provisions took place in the decrees on the State of Emergency; many legal amendments were made. A total of 2,756 public personnel were dismissed. 17 institutions were shut down, including 2 newspapers, 7 associations and 7 foundations. Those arrested due to charges against the Constitutional order were bound to wear uniforms. Convicts refusing to wear the uniforms will be deprived of guest visits and will be isolated. 100 new member quota to the Court of Appeals and 16 new member quota to the State Council were assigned without any legal basis. However, the number of members of the Court of Appeals were decreased from 516 to 200 in 2016, claiming that there is no need. Verdicts in criminal proceedings will not be able to be reversed by courts of appeal with reasons of not including a reasoned decision or of restriction of the right to defense. In the appeal process of crimes requiring an imprisonment sentence of more than 10 years, the Court of Appeals is no longer bound to hold hearings. With the amendment made at the Law of Criminal rocedure, the right to defense was restricted once again. Courts will be able to continue the proceeding without the defendants present. The most prominent application brought with the new emergency decrees was the application of practical immunity for civilians who allegedly act in accordance with the fight against terrorist activities as well as the coup attempt.
News written by journalists, petitions signed by academics can be considered terror crimes in this country; with the judicial exemption brought with the decree, those who attack press statements, funerals, election offices will not have any legal, administrative, financial or criminal liabilities. Following reactions against the regulation, the party in power defended that the application of impunity encompasses only the night of the coup attempt. However, there is no concrete limit in the decree text to draw this conclusion. The Initiative for Freedom of Expression Constitutional Court decree on Law No. 2911 The application made by Marmaris 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, claiming the the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations No. 2911 violating the Constitution, was concluded. Constitutional Court (AYM) decided for the expressions, in a way that would not complicate the daily lives of citizens and in a way that the gatherings would disperse before sunset within Article 6 of the Law No. 2911, as well as the expression general roads expression in Article 22 to be violating the Constitution. The expression general roads in the Law was being used as legal basis for public squares like Taksim and Kızılay not allowed to be used as protest areas. Other allegations of violation were denied by the court. The Constitutional Court decree, dated 28.09.2017, was published on the Official Gazette to be enacted in nine months. For the full decree: https://goo.gl/uaqfeb The Constitutional Court decided that the expression, in a way that would not complicate the daily lives of citizens will lead to the disproportionate restriction of the right, due to the lack of measurable criteria on the notion. The court further decided meetings and demonstrations may continue at night as well. For the expression general roads the court decided that the lack of permission on common areas for protest will lead to meeting and rally locations to move further from city centers. For the administration continuously addressed rally areas
and banned protests in every opportunity... But why do these clauses remain in action for nine more months? Whereas restrictions on rights and freedoms brought with emergency decrees are enacted immediately. Furthermore, Taksim and Kızılay Squares were opened once again to demonstrations - but even the New Year s Eve celebrations were banned by governorates as threat. What will happen now? The Initiative for Freedom of Expression Teacher Ayşe to be jailed with her baby, after saying Do not let children die Teacher Ayşe Çelik was sentenced to 1 year and three months of imprisonment due to saying, Do not let children die in a TV show she connected to via phone call. Her statement was made during the time of heavy curfews in Southeastern Turkey. Çelik will soon be imprisoned, together with her newborn baby. Çelik s conviction due to making illegal organization propaganda was approved by the Court of Appeals as well. She recently received a court notice, which stated her imprisonment within the next ten days. Her two-month old daughter will be imprisoned together with her. No mother can be guilty enough to be separated from her baby, or to be jailed together with her baby, said Çelik.
rosecutor objects against Özakça s acquittal Ankara ublic rosecutor Osman Öztürk objected against the verdict of acquittal issued for Semih Özakça, who was on a hunger strike for 295 days together with Nuriye Gülmen, asking to be rehired in his job he was dismissed with an emergency decree. Asserting that Özakça has committed the crime of aiding an illegal organization through his hunger strike, Öztürk applied to the Court of Appeals for the educator to be penalized. Ankara 19th High Criminal Court previously sentenced hunger-striker academic Nuriye Gülmen to 6 years and three months of imprisonment due to illegal organization membership and issued the acquittal of educators Semih zakça and Acun Karadağ. The reasoned verdict stated that there is no evidence to reveal that the hunger-strike was made following an illegal organization order, founding the sentence against Nuriye Gülmen to two witness statements and two Twitter posts. 10-year imprisonment sentence against M solely due to speech Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court announced the reason for the 10-year imprisonment sentence issued against eople s Democratic arty (HD) Hakkari M Selma Irmak due to the marches and press statements she attended. The reasoned verdict indicated press statements, marches and speeches on TV shows she attended between the years 2014 and 2016 as HD Hakkari M and as Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-Chair as evidence for the crime of illegal organization membership. The court asserted that the events Irmak participated in were not political party activities and her speeches were organizational activities. The court further defended that her arrest does not prevent legislative activities.
Fifth hearing in Cumhuriyet Newspaper Case: Judge intervenes defense of Şık The fifth hearing of the case against Cumhuriyet Newspaper writers and executives was held at Istanbul 27th High Criminal Court. In the case with 29 defendants, five of them arrested, the defendants right to defense was seized. The defense statement of journalist Ahmet Şık was interrupted by the Chief Judge, Şık was kicked out of the hearing room. Following the incident, the newspaper s Editor-In-Chief Murat Sabuncu and the Chief Executive Officer lawyer Akın Atalay did not defend themselves. The court board brought a restriction of a maximum of three lawyers per defendant, denying the claims of release. The next hearing was scheduled to 9 Mart 2018. The hearing will be transferred from Çağlayan Courthouse to Silivri rison with reasons of security and order. On the other hand, the complete statement of journalist Ahmet Şık, who was taken out of the hearing room after his defense was interrupted, was shared with the public by the Initiative of Journalists Outside. In his defense, Şık points out the charges imposed against him and Cumhuriyet, discusses news in question through specific examples, emphasizes the trialing of journalism, states that they are the followers of Musa Anter, brothers of Hrant Dink and friends of Metin Göktepe. We will continue speaking out the truth, even if you kill us like you did in the past, or imprison us like you do now. Contrary to what owners, the judiciary and collaborators of totalitarian regimes say, journalism is not a crime, states Şık. Sabuncu and Atalay are arrested for 422 days, Şık for 361 days and the newspaper s accountant Emre İper for 264 days within the case. With the verdict, the four names and Ahmet Kemal Aydoğdu, on trial due to his social media posts, will enter 2018 in prison. Court considers crime to call bomb attack against peace rally massacre Diyarbakır 9th High Criminal Court sentenced Mesopotamia Agency editor Mehmet Ali Ertaş, who is on trial due to his social media posts, to one year and three months of imprisonment due to public denigration of state and making illegal organization propaganda. Ertaş was charged due to calling the ISIS attack against the peace rally at Ankara Train Station a massacre. More than 100 people died in the incident. He was
further charged due to a new year celebration message he share in 2015. The sentence against him was deferred. Investigation against Youtuber Danla Bilic An investigation was filed against social media celebrity Danla Biliç due to a video she uploaded on YouTube. In the video, Biliç says, Commit suicide so you would be saved from this life. A criminal complaint was made at the rosecutor s Office due to these expressions encouraging young people to commit suicide. Famously known with her videos on makeup, Biliç has 1.4 million subscribers on YouTube and 2.4 million followers on Instagram. Theater play written by teacher banned reschool teacher Duygu Şahlar was dismissed from profession with an emergency decree and wrote a theater play, entitled, I m Going To Tell You Something? So? Have We Escaped Yet? The play was inspired by the stories of arrested public workers. The staging of the play was banned in five districts of Muğla. The play was staged in 42 locations in 31 provinces and was banned by the district governorates in Milas, Bodrum, Datça, Marmaris and Fethiye. The Governorates claimed the reason for the ban as the dismissal and legal process against Şahlar due to illegal organization membership.
Balzac and London among inappropriate content list Engin Gökoğlu, the lawyer of hunger-striker educators Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, was arrested. Nine publications sent to Gökoğlu, including the world classics Le ére Goriot by Balzac and Martin Eden by Jack London, were found inappropriate by Tekirdağ Type-T Closed enitentiary Institute No.2. The prison s Training Council decided for the following books not to be handed to the arrestee: The Smart urple Cow [Mor İneğin Akıllısı], Le ére Goriot, The Havana Inquiry, Até Amanhã Camaradas, Martin Eden, Guerilla Tanya, Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War, The Leipzig Trials and Cement. On the other hand, Gökoğlu wrote a letter for the hundreds of files he was tracking to be followed by a lawyer to be assigned by the Ankara Bar Association. The prison administration claimed that the Bar Association is not an official institution and did not send the letter. The objection of Gökoğlu was denied by Tekirdağ 1st Office of Judge of Execution. THIS WEEK ON THE MUSEUM OF CRIMES OF THOUGHT Stay tuned Follow the agenda in the most entertaining way with our regularly updated museum. A
State of emergency With the newly published statutory decrees no 695 and 696, impunity becomes de jure practice with the exemption from law for everyone who "acts to suppress terrorist actions", those accused of "trying the topple the Constitutional order" and held in remand are to dress in uniform. Approximately 3000 people are discharged from their public duties and trials can now be made without an attorney present. CH M Ömer Süha Aldan who criticized the decree is now under investigation. On the other hand, in a new report published by Rights and Justice latform it is stated that 16.7 percent of state of emergency prisoners have considered committing suicide. Freedom of Expression The trials against Academics for eace continue and all the hearings are being postponed to upcoming months. Academicians Mungan, Çamcı, Kaya and Ersoy who had been previously jailed for a while had their hearings postponed once more, as the court waits for the permission from the Ministry of Justice. The prosecutor objects to the release of hunger striking teacher Özakça. On the fifth hearing of Cumhuriyet trial, Ahmet Şık was barred from giving his defence statement, upon which his jailed colleagues refused to give theirs as well. The hearing was postponed to March and was moved to Silivri enitentiary Courthouse. The proceeding of Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV) Chairman rof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Turkey Representative Erol Önderoğlu and writer Ahmet Nesin continued at Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court. The defendants are charged due to participating in the Substitute Editing- In-Chief campaign started for solidarity with Özgür Gündem Newspaper. The court denied the claim for the case file to be sent to the Constitutional Court due to violation of the Constitution. The next hearing was scheduled to 18 April 2018 to wait for the execution of the warrant issued against writer Ahmet Nesin, who is currently abroad. Cases continue against signatory academics of the petition, We Will Not artake In This Crime of the Academics for eace. Biriz Gonca Berksoy, İnci Özkan
Kerestecioğlu and Tülay Erken from Istanbul University stood trial at Istanbul 36th High Criminal Court in separate cases filed against them. All three proceedings will continue on 8 May 2018. The sixth hearing of the case against Asst. rof. Dr. Esra Mungan, Asst. rof. Dr. Meral Camcı, Asst. rof. Dr. Muzaffer Kaya and Assoc. rof. Kıvanç Ersoy was held at Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court. The academics are on trial due to signing the petition, We Will Not artake In This Crime by the Academics for eace. In the first hearing of the case, the rosecutor s Office claimed the academics, on trial due to making terrorist organization propaganda, to be tried in accordance with Article 301 of the Turkish enal Code. A permission is expected from the Ministry of Justice on the claim. The next hearing was scheduled to 18 April 2018, 10:30. The fifth hearing of the case against Cumhuriyet Newspaper writers and executives was held at Istanbul 27th High Criminal Court. In the case with 29 defendants, five of them arrested, the defendants right to defense was seized. The defense statement of journalist Ahmet Şık was interrupted by the Chief Judge, Şık was kicked out of the hearing room. Following the incident, the newspaper s Editor-In-Chief Murat Sabuncu and the Chief Executive Officer lawyer Akın Atalay did not defend themselves. The court board brought a restriction of a maximum of three lawyers per defendant, denying the claims of release. The next hearing was scheduled to 9 Mart 2018. The hearing will be transferred from Çağlayan Courthouse to Silivri rison with reasons of security and order. The case against journalist Can Dündar, who took part as Substitute Editor-In- Chief in the campaign for solidarity with shut-down Özgür Gündem Newspaper, and director Veysi Altay continued on December 28th at Istanbul 22nd High Criminal Court. However, no information could be obtained on the conclusion of the hearing during the preparation of the bulletin. Batman 2nd High Criminal Court has prepared an indictment against the directors of movie Bakur, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Dicle Anter and Çayan Demirel due to making terrorist organization propaganda. Çayan Demirel was at Istanbul 23rd High Criminal Court to testify on December 28th. The next hearing was scheduled to 8 February 2018, due to the court board being on vacation. Ertuğrul Mavioğlu will testify on 5 February 2018. Trials Next Week The case filed against academics due to making terrorist organization propaganda by signing the eace etition, We Will Not artake In This Crime continue. Two academics from Marmara University and one academic from Istanbul Technical University will stand trial on 4 January 2018 at Istanbul 36th High Criminal Court.