Lawyers to file complaint in journalists trial
Lawyers to file complaint in journalists trial
Defense lawyers of 44 Kurdish and left-wing journalists on trial said they would soon file a criminal complaint against the board of Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court for committing a crime by giving a ruling without trial as the defendants, lawyers and audience were denied permission to attend the three-day trial in Istanbul one week ago.
In a statement about the judicial process against journalists, lawyers Ercan Kanar and Hüseyin Boðatekin evaluated the court board’s adjourning the trial to November and ending the trial before the formerly announced date as an arbitrary practice.
The trial which was supposed to last four days on 10-14 September was arbitrarily cancelled and adjourned to 12 November by the court board which unsurprisingly once again rejected defense lawyers’ demands for defendants’ self-expression and translation service in Kurdish and for the admittance of audience in the hearing room for political reasons.
The trial on the 32nd anniversary of the 12 September 1980 military coup continued with no progress as lawyers left the hearing room and journalists tied their mouths with black band to condemn the court board’s denial to self-defense in the Kurdish language. In response to the court board, lawyers left the hearing room saying that they will not be ‘puppets’ in front of the court which they said “tried people in the wave of the 12 September coup”.
The journalists, who have been detained in December 2011 within the scope of the so called KCK (Kurdish Communities Union) operation, are being accused and charged for the news they wrote. The accusations against press members were grounded on statements by secret witnesses, records of their phone conversations and their documents seized by police.
In a statement about the judicial process against journalists, lawyers Ercan Kanar and Hüseyin Boðatekin evaluated the court board’s adjourning the trial to November and ending the trial before the formerly announced date as an arbitrary practice.
The trial which was supposed to last four days on 10-14 September was arbitrarily cancelled and adjourned to 12 November by the court board which unsurprisingly once again rejected defense lawyers’ demands for defendants’ self-expression and translation service in Kurdish and for the admittance of audience in the hearing room for political reasons.
The trial on the 32nd anniversary of the 12 September 1980 military coup continued with no progress as lawyers left the hearing room and journalists tied their mouths with black band to condemn the court board’s denial to self-defense in the Kurdish language. In response to the court board, lawyers left the hearing room saying that they will not be ‘puppets’ in front of the court which they said “tried people in the wave of the 12 September coup”.
The journalists, who have been detained in December 2011 within the scope of the so called KCK (Kurdish Communities Union) operation, are being accused and charged for the news they wrote. The accusations against press members were grounded on statements by secret witnesses, records of their phone conversations and their documents seized by police.
