Lawyer Riþvanoðlu on trial for his thoughts
Lawyer Riþvanoðlu on trial for his thoughts
The former president of the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD) in Adana, Þiar Riþvanoðlu, is on trial for reading out a press release related to the suspicious death of Metin Alataþ, distributor of the Kurdish Azadiya Welat Newspaper. The trial begins on 16 September.
Lawyer Þiar Riþvanoðlu, who is also editorial manager of the Gerçek (Truth) newspaper and the Devrimci Marksizm (Revolutionary Marxism) magazine, he is prosecuted for is thoughts now, after defending many people accused for their 'thought'. Riþvanoðlu was also one of the lawyers of the late Italian journalist, Dino Frisullo, who was arrested and on trial in 1998.
Riþvanoðlu has also been lawyer for writers Temel Demirer, Sibel Özbudun and Sungur Savran. He was also involved in the cases concerned with Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink, Uður Kaymaz and the Þemdinli bombing, cases that receive a huge public interest.
Riþvanoðlu will be tried at the Special Authority 6th High Criminal Court of Adana (eastern Mediterranean coast) on 16 September. The Adana Lawyers Initiative for Freedom of Thought issued a statement to support Riþvanoðlu. They called all progressive and democratic lawyers and the revolutionary public to support the lawyer's defence.
Charges of "praising crime and a criminal" had previously been pressed against Riþvanoðlu on the grounds of his article entitled "The Kurdish people are on their feet... Listen to their voice" published in the Ýþçi Mücadelesi (Worker's Struggle) magazine in November 2008. He was acquitted.
Three investigations have been launched into different speeches of Riþvanoðlu, i.e. his utterances in a program on the Kurdish ROJ TV channel, a speech delivered on 21 February at the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Yüreðir District Congress and a press release related to Metin Alataþ, distributor of the Kurish daily Azadiya Welat who was found hung in a tree in an orange plantation in Adana in April this year.
Bianet website report that while the investigations into the speech and the press release were dropped, a case was opened with astronomical speed on the grounds of his thoughts voiced in different programs Riþvanoðlu attended on ROJ TV between 1-3 May. The first hearing was scheduled very promptly for 16 September. In the program on 3 May, he said: "A commission has to be required to confidentially investigate all political murders in Kurdistan, all conspiracies, the massacres of the Botaþ death wells, mass murders and rapes".
In his defence regarding the investigation, Riþvanoðlu criticized the imprecision of the investigation saying that "hegemonic" was written as "phagomanic", and the terms "socialism", "postmodernist" and "internationalist" were misspelled as well and thus distorted in their meaning. He said that his utterances were taken out of context and that he made a political evaluation.
Prosecutor Mehmet Düzgün stated that Riþvanoðlu referred to the group from Habur (refugees affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party PKK) as "Peace Group" and that he called imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan the "leader of the Kurds". The prosecutor demanded a three count sentence according to Article 220 of the Turkish Criminal Law (TCK) under charges of "spreading propaganda for the PKK or the organization's aims". Riþvanoðlu is facing imprisonment of up to 13.5 years.
Additionally, the Ministry of the Interior opened another case against the lawyer, claiming TL 10,000 (approx. € 5,000) in compensation by reason of "harming honour and dignity with the press release".
Lawyer Þiar Riþvanoðlu, who is also editorial manager of the Gerçek (Truth) newspaper and the Devrimci Marksizm (Revolutionary Marxism) magazine, he is prosecuted for is thoughts now, after defending many people accused for their 'thought'. Riþvanoðlu was also one of the lawyers of the late Italian journalist, Dino Frisullo, who was arrested and on trial in 1998.
Riþvanoðlu has also been lawyer for writers Temel Demirer, Sibel Özbudun and Sungur Savran. He was also involved in the cases concerned with Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink, Uður Kaymaz and the Þemdinli bombing, cases that receive a huge public interest.
Riþvanoðlu will be tried at the Special Authority 6th High Criminal Court of Adana (eastern Mediterranean coast) on 16 September. The Adana Lawyers Initiative for Freedom of Thought issued a statement to support Riþvanoðlu. They called all progressive and democratic lawyers and the revolutionary public to support the lawyer's defence.
Charges of "praising crime and a criminal" had previously been pressed against Riþvanoðlu on the grounds of his article entitled "The Kurdish people are on their feet... Listen to their voice" published in the Ýþçi Mücadelesi (Worker's Struggle) magazine in November 2008. He was acquitted.
Three investigations have been launched into different speeches of Riþvanoðlu, i.e. his utterances in a program on the Kurdish ROJ TV channel, a speech delivered on 21 February at the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Yüreðir District Congress and a press release related to Metin Alataþ, distributor of the Kurish daily Azadiya Welat who was found hung in a tree in an orange plantation in Adana in April this year.
Bianet website report that while the investigations into the speech and the press release were dropped, a case was opened with astronomical speed on the grounds of his thoughts voiced in different programs Riþvanoðlu attended on ROJ TV between 1-3 May. The first hearing was scheduled very promptly for 16 September. In the program on 3 May, he said: "A commission has to be required to confidentially investigate all political murders in Kurdistan, all conspiracies, the massacres of the Botaþ death wells, mass murders and rapes".
In his defence regarding the investigation, Riþvanoðlu criticized the imprecision of the investigation saying that "hegemonic" was written as "phagomanic", and the terms "socialism", "postmodernist" and "internationalist" were misspelled as well and thus distorted in their meaning. He said that his utterances were taken out of context and that he made a political evaluation.
Prosecutor Mehmet Düzgün stated that Riþvanoðlu referred to the group from Habur (refugees affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party PKK) as "Peace Group" and that he called imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan the "leader of the Kurds". The prosecutor demanded a three count sentence according to Article 220 of the Turkish Criminal Law (TCK) under charges of "spreading propaganda for the PKK or the organization's aims". Riþvanoðlu is facing imprisonment of up to 13.5 years.
Additionally, the Ministry of the Interior opened another case against the lawyer, claiming TL 10,000 (approx. € 5,000) in compensation by reason of "harming honour and dignity with the press release".
