Sociologist Pinar Selek, who is accused of bombing Istanbul’s Spice Bazaar in 1998 despite having been acquitted on the same charges on three previous occasions, is on trial again. “I want my acquittal back,” Selek said. “It is so hard to express what I feel about this scandalous legal situation. It is like asking a woman how she feels after she has been subjected to violence, but I can tell you how I have still remained on my feet after 15 years: There is incredible solidarity with me.”

Along with the staff at Strasbourg University, where  Selek is currently doing her doctorate, and Strasbourg Deputy Mayor Pernelle Richardot, more than 30 organizations and political party representatives from France, human rights activists from Germany, Italy and Austria will also attend today’s hearing at Istanbul’s Çağlayan Courthouse at 10 a.m., Selek said.

The court dropped the case against three times, but judges will again try her in absentia. The academic’s case has been continuing since 1998 when she was detained in July of that year by Istanbul police. She was freed after two and a half years in prison in December 2000, after which she moved to Europe.

After a change of judges, Istanbul’s 12th Criminal Court withdrew Selek’s acquittal verdict on November 22, 2012, despite not being legally permitted to do so. The ruling, which was reportedly unprecedented in both Turkey and the rest of the world, was criticized.