Following the scandalous ruling at the last hearing of the ancillary cases related to the Spice Bazaar case, of which sociologist-writer Pinar Selek had been acquitted three times, the hearing that took place on December 13th, 2012, Thursday at the Caglayan Courthouse 12th High Criminal Court attracted a great deal of attention of the public. At the press statement that was organized by the “We Are Still Witness” Platform and read by Deniz Türkali, the endorsing national and international institutions were announced and the recent, very conscious and elaborate operation under the guise of law was pointed out. Türkali reminded that anyone who was confronted by a problem consulted Pinar; that Pinar never let go of their hand and concluded the press statement with this wish: “We are proud of holding Pinar Selek's hand. We will never let go of it until the day that we all celebrate her freedom on the streets of this country. That day, she will again be standing upfront, waving at us all, so that we sing our songs altogether. That very day, we will make confetti out of all these press statements, throw them in the air and laugh out loud to celebrate. What we call justice boils down to this picture.”
At the trial that started in the hearing room that was jam-packed with many intervening lawyers and international observers, the temporary court has stated with an interim ruling that the demand of recusation of the lawyers of Pinar Selek has been turned down by the court. In response, the lawyers of Pinar Selek declared that they will make an objection to the rejection of the recusation demand that they have just found out, reminding that “a new session cannot be initiated by or in the presence of the judge that is recused without a definitive judgment on the recusation”. However, according to the Turkish Criminal Procedures Act (CMK), since there is no definitive judgment on the recusation, the temporary judges should never have proceeded with this hearing, but the prosecutor has, moreover, repeated his opinion on the case itself and asked the lawyers their statements of defense on the case. The effort of the judges to continue with the proceeding before the defense’s right to make an objection to the refusal of the court is complete has once again cracked wide open the extent of the unlawfulness in the Pinar Selek case that is being observed lately.
The court has announced its ruling after a long break and has decided that the lawyers of Pinar Selek make their legal objection at the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court which is the authority for objection, and that they plead about the case at the next hearing should they wish to do so. The date of the next hearing was announced as January 24th, 2013 Thursday, 10:30 am.
While the most basic violations on the procedure went on, it was received with great concern and reaction that in the trial records, defense about the accusations was constantly mentioned as if the judgment of acquittal made about Pinar Selek were not a final ruling. The committees from Turkey and abroad and supporters from all walks of life including members of parliament, journalists, writers, artists and activists who have closely been following the case have stressed that they will keep up their struggle in the face of these ongoing legal scandals, and that one should be immensely cautious and conscious about the way this case goes.
The Pinar Selek case is being closely watched by the world public in the light of the latest declarations from members of the European Parliament and the EP rapporteur on Turkey. International social science institutions, academies and human rights organizations have announced that they will follow this case until justice is done.
“We Are Still Witness” Platform