Another new verdict is set to be handed down today in a case against sociologist Pınar Selek, who is accused of bombing Istanbul’s Spice Bazaar in 1998 despite having been acquitted on the same charges on three previous occasions.



“I want my acquittal back,” Selek said in a phone interview with the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday. “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, at which Selek is currently pursuing her doctorate, and Strasbourg Deputy Mayor Pernelle Richardot, more than 30 nongovernmental 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.

Selek said she found solace in “incredible support” for her.

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 Nov. 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.

January/24/2013

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/pinar-selek-back-on-trial-again-in-absentia.aspx?pageID=238&nID=39730&NewsCatID=339