Latest Developments on Pınar Selek Case, Turkey
bit - 25.03.2011 00:36
Letter from 'We Still Witness Platform', Turkey:
The prosecutor’s office has appealed against the third acquittal that the court has given to Pınar Selek, and this has, once again, created an ambiguous situation.
Let Us Stop This Torture Together!
The prosecutor’s office has appealed against the third acquittal that the court has given to Pınar Selek, and this has, once again, created an ambiguous situation.
Let Us Stop This Torture Together!
In these days, when the country’s agenda is so very busy, we would like to share with you once again the point we have arrived at in the legal struggle that has lasted for thirteen years.
As is already known, the Istanbul 12th High Penal Court resisted the reversal given to its acquittal by the Supreme Court General Assembly for Criminal Matters, and gave Pınar Selek, the sociologist-writer and human rights activist who has been struggling for justice in order to free herself from the snares of the Spice Bazaar conspiracy for thirteen years, an acquittal for the third time. With this final acquittal, the illegality which has been continuing for all these years became, once again, blatantly and painfully obvious.
However, the day after the hearing, the prosecutor’s office appealed against this acquittal as well. Moreover, the appeal came on the very day after the court’s decision, with an almost reflex-like speed. There are no statements of justification that have been made as of yet. The prosecution merely declared that they would prepare their detailed statement of appeal after the court presented a detailed ruling. The process that will take place now is that the Spice Bazaar case will be brought to the Supreme Court General Assembly for Criminal Matters for the last time, after the completion of all other procedures.
The appeal by the prosecution, which has condemned a legal victory to ambiguity all over again, continues to hang over Pınar Selek just like Democles’ sword. This period of ambiguity and suspense is, in and of itself, the greatest of tortures. Hence, in the expert report given to Pınar Selek by the Überleben Treatment Centre for Victims of Torture in Berlin on the 3rd of August, 2010, the effects of this continuous prolonging of the legal process were also taken into account.The report stated that, “(clinical findings) clearly point out that the torture Ms. S was subjected to in the July of 1998 at the Istanbul Police Headquarters triggered acute stress disorder, which evolved into post-traumatic stress disorder, and have left permanent somatic effects on her... The traumatic events she experienced later on (such as the raiding of the prison, the reopening of the court case, etc.)… have caused the post-traumatic symptomatic to become actualized and acute once again. As a result, the traumatic process has deteriorated and become chronic.”
Pınar Selek has suffered a variety of serious violations of her rights, ranging from testimonies against her taken forcibly under torture which were later renounced in court, to official reports that were proved to be fake, from expert reports that had no scientific validity, to illegal interventions, and even threats and assaults. Today, her case has come to be seen as a symbol of the demand for justice, by both the national and international public. The case, being drawn out to such an extent, and especially because of the torture she faced and the violation of the right to fair trial, is now also on the agenda of the European Human Rights Court.
Accused of being the perpetrator of a massacre in the eyes of the public, Pınar Selek has been burdened with an unbelievably heavy and completely unfair weight. However, by way of her person, it is actually all those individuals who want to think and create freely that are being intimidated, and this deeply shakes the society’s faith in legal security. In a court case where the legal procedure is actually followed, nobody is required to prove their innocence. On the contrary, in order for there to be criminal sanctioning, the judicial authorities must set forth beyond doubt, that a crime has taken place, and must also prove by whom it has been committed. As has happened in Pınar Selek’s case, if a person is still trying to be punished, even though her innocence has been proven, and that innocence has been affirmed and verified over and over again, then one must stop and take a look at the political messages circulating outside the legal dimension. The last acquittal given to Pınar Selek and the prosecutor’s subsequent appeal has provided a clear platform for this kind of political analysis.
Along with this political approach, we once again state that we shall continue to closely follow Pınar Selek’s court case until the very end. What matters is that the local court has insisted upon the acquittal it had given. What must come to an end now are these endless appeals which have, in and of themselves, become a mechanism for punishment.
We hope to put an end to this excruciating torture of ambiguity and suspense with our common sensibility and solidarity. We are constantly following every development very closely, and we are determined to put Democles’ sword back into its sheath once and for all.
In claiming justice for Pınar Selek, we actually demand a more just and free Turkey for all of us to live in.
‘We Are Still Witness’ Platform
older posts and background info:
 http://www.indymedia.nl/nl/2011/02/73745.shtml
http://indymedia.nl/nl/2011/02/73663.shtml
 Website: http://pinarselek.com
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