Vedat Yılmazabdurrahmanoğlu has talked about the final ruling in “Spice Bazaar”case in which Pınar Selek is also on trial.
Istanbul 12th High Criminal Court has surprisingly ignored its own ruling of sociologist-writer Pınar Selek's acquittal. The actual Chief Judge of the court Vedat Yılmazabdurrahmanoğlu said, “The judgement is not finalized yet. In ambigious cases like this, the judgement should be given on the suspect's behalf. My opinion is obvious. I come and do my job."
In the last hearing of the “Spice Bazaar” case, the Istanbul 12th High Criminal Court has revoked the final ruling of Pınar Selek's acquittal that it had given resisting to the Supreme Court’s reversal. Yılmazabdurrahmanoğlu has been interviewed by Burak Bilge from Vatan Newspaper about the ruling stating that he was on sick-leave for 20 days due to his heart disease and was not present at the court on the very day of the last hearing. He said:
“I have 93 percent contraction in one of my veins; thus cardiac failure. I was down with pneumonia dependent on the failure. I take antibiotics. But now I feel beter. So, I might not necessarily finish my 45-days sick-leave if I feel myself better. I might come back to my job earlier."
“There might be such ruling. Judges have the right to pass their own judgement which should be respected. These are all in the law. We had formerly given the ruling of acquittal and resisted. My opinion about the case is obvious. But the Court has not passed the final judgement yet. If I go back to my job, the ruling will be given according to the standpoint of the court members at that time. It is not yet known which group of judges will be present at the next hearing and what kind of a ruling will be issued. I might recover and be back to my duty up to that time. I shall make my own assessment of the case. The judges who will work with me shall make a new assessment. Nobody’s opinion should concern the other. However, it is not very common that a judge revokes the ruling of acquittal. It is not usual that a judge changes the ruling in the same case file. The standpoint of the Prosecuter was obvious from the very beginning. Why would he get surprised? There is no change in his opinion and he must not have said that he was shocked."
“Our ruling was not irregular. There could be such court rulings as resisting. Moreover, the binding precedent is the ruling of the Supreme Court Assembly for Criminal Matters (YCGK). In my ruling of acquittal resisting the Supreme Court, I state in detail under which circumstances the binding precedent should be obeyed. I gave my ruling of acquital, it was taken to the Supreme Court and was reversed by the Supreme Court Assembly for Criminal Matters. Normally, you have to obey this; however, ours was a different process. We issued the ruling, it was affirmed by the Supreme Court but the Prosecution Office appealed to the Supreme Court Assembly for Criminal Matters. The Assembly reversed the judgement by majority of votes. So, there is a difference in this file and we have the right to resist again. Besides, the case file does not only include this event but some other murders, as well. There are different judgements concerning different incidents. In our ruling, for instance, we obeyed for some but at the same time, resisted for some other. This is a very complicated case file. Even the public could not decide during these 12 years. We discovered certain things but could not find a way to deal with it totally. Therefore, the Supreme Court said something while the Supreme Court Assembly for Criminal Matters said something else. Even the Assembly was separated into two. So, the situation of this file is very ambigious. In such cases, the judgement should be given on the suspect's behalf. This is a legal principle. But somebody else might say that ‘it is not ambigious’. This is not maths. The Supreme Court Assembly for Criminal Matters makes the final assessment. Hopefully, I will come back and fulfill my duty."
*http://t24.com.tr/haber/misir-carsisi-davasi-hakimi-suphe-varsa-karar-lehte-olur-dava-bitmedi/218116