On March 7, 2012, the Twelfth Chamber of the Istanbul High Criminal Court examined again the criminal cases against Ms. Pinar Selek, a writer and sociologist who is an active defender of the rights of women, disadvantaged communities and the victims of discrimination, including street children and the Kurd and Armenian minorities. The Observatory had mandated Mr. Martin Pradel, lawyer at the Paris Bar (France), for the purpose of monitoring the hearing.
The Observatory recalls that Ms. Selek has been subjected to an ongoing judicial harassment since 1998, when she was falsely accused of causing a bomb to explode in Istanbul’s Egyptian bazaar on July 9, 1998 and being a member of a terrorist organisation for that purpose, seemingly to punish her for denouncing human rights violations in Turkey. According to the mission that was sent to observe the trial, court’s investigations largely confirmed the absence of any bomb and attributed the explosion to a gas leak. Furthermore, the Observatory recalls that the defendant who had accused her during interrogation in 1998 had withdrawn his statement during the beginning of criminal proceedings.
Nevertheless, though she has already been acquitted three times, on March 7, 2012, the General Prosecutor requested the court to sentence Ms. Selek to life time imprisonment. The hearing was then suspended and adjourned until August 1, 2012. These relentless accusations and delays in rendering justice seem to merely aim at sanctioning Ms. Selek for her continuing advocacy for the respect of human rights in Turkey.
“It is high time for the judiciary of the Turkish Republic to draw conclusions from the acquittals it issued in favour of Pinar Selek and free her for good from the weight of criminal accusations lying on unacceptable grounds”, said Martin Pradel. “This justice, which has proven its independence on three occasions, should be aware of the duty of truth entrusted to it. It must continue to resist pressures exercised by the prosecution to ensure that this long drawn up trial does not end with the unfair conviction of Pinar Selek”.
“While her right to the presumption of innocence was constantly violated, Pinar Selek was placed in preventive detention during two years. She was subjected to acts of torture and degrading and inhuman treatment, and after 14 years of baseless criminal proceedings, she is forced into exile abroad, with an unbearable daily pressure”, added Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President.
“It is time to end these proceedings and to come to a turning point in recognising the importance and legitimacy of defending the rights of others, especially when it concerns the rights of minorities, which may not be popular with everybody", concluded Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.
The Observatory therefore urges the Turkish authorities to immediately and unconditionally put an end to this 14-year long judicial harassment against her, which seems to be mere reprisals for her legitimate human rights activities.
The Observatory more generally calls on the authorities of Turkey to conform in all circumstances to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as regional and international human rights instruments ratified by Turkey.
For further information, please contact:
• FIDH: Karine Appy / Arthur Manet: + 33 1 43 55 25 18
• OMCT: Delphine Reculeau: + 41 22 809 49 39