To the Attention of Council of Europe, Commissioner for Human Rights
11 Dec 2012
The latest hearing about the completion of procedural deficiencies in the ancillary cases that were consolidated with the “Spice Bazaar” case where sociologist-writer Pinar Selek had been acquitted three times witnessed a scandalous ruling. On Thursday, November 22, the Istanbul 12th High Criminal Court has revoked the final ruling of acquittal of Pinar Selek that it had given on February 9, 2011, despite having no such authority.
For the first time not only in the history of the Turkish law but in the world, a court has scandalously ignored its own ruling of acquittal that it had given resisting to the Supreme Court’s reversal.
Pınar Selek was 27 when she was first accused of having committed a bombing in the Spice Bazaar. She is today 41 and still accused of this crime after three acquittals after having been tortured, as international organizations documented. There will be an important hearing on December 13, 2012. Pınar Selek will be judged a forth time after the Public Prosecutor asked for an aggravated life sentence for Pınar Selek again on November 22, 2012.
Moreover, the usual time period between two hearings in Pınar Selek’s case was of 2 to 3 months. In that very case, the next hearing was scheduled less than a month later. Due to extraordinary timing of the court hearing, the Chief Judge Vedat Yılmazabdurrahmanoğlu who already acquitted Pınar Selek and has been following the case since the beginning will not be able to hold the hearing, instead the replacing Judge Mehmet Hamzaçebi will give a ruling. Pınar Selek risks the perpetuity prison since she has to be sentenced as someone too disturbing for the Turkish State as she works on Kurdish question, women’s rights and rights of LGBT individuals.
We kindly request the Commissioner to issue an urgent statement denouncing this process and calling the Turkish Government to put an end to this historic court-case to stand with human rights, democracy and rule of law.
- Description of the history of the case by the main lawyer of Pinar Selek. http://www.pinarselek.com/public/page_item.aspx?id=1584
- List of various organizations, groups and individuals submitted a letter to the Turkish State: http://www.pinarselek.com/public/page.aspx?id=241
The “We Are Still Witnesses” Platform