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After the Constitutional Court's decision for the retrial of the Academics for Peace, the hearing of Prof. Şebnem Korur-Fincancı and Prof. Gençay Gürsoy was held at İstanbul Courthouse 37th Heavy Penal Court.
The court ruled for the acquittal for Korur-Fincancı and Gürsoy.
The two academics and their attorney, Meriç Eyüboğlu, were present at the courtroom, as well as other academics, who attended the hearing as spectators. The court limited the number of spectators because of coronavirus.
Gürsoy: A belated right decision
Prof. Gürsoy's hearing was the first to be held. The presiding judge read out the court of appeal verdict for a retrial in line with the Constitutional Court ruling.
Asked about his words on the verdict, he said, "The court of appeal verdict is the belated right decision. I agree and demand that the decision be followed."
Attorney Eyüboğlu said, "Verdicts of reversal have been given over the files but only your court opened a hearing. It has been one year since the Constitutional court verdict was given and the right to a fair trial has been violated by impeding the file for a year. We wish today to be the end."
The prosecutor demanded the acquittal of the academics in line with the Constitutional Court decision.
Asked for his last words before the ruling, Gürsoy said he, a 50-year lecturer, was sad because of the persecution of him and all other academics who are in the same situation.
Announcing its decision after a break, the court ruled for the acquittal of him, taking into account the Constitutional Court ruling.
Korur-Fincancı: We are the only country where demanding peace is a crime
After the presiding judge read out the court of appeal verdict, Korur-Fincancı said, "It is a trial process that should have never been started, so, I think it is an appropriate decision. We are the only country where demanding peace is criminalized."
Attorney Eyüboğlu and the prosecutor repeated their words in Gürsoy's hearings. The court acquitted Korur-Fincancı.
About the Trials of AcademicsOn January 10, 2016, 1,128 academics published a declaration entitled "We will not be party to this crime" on behalf of the Academics for Peace initiative. With the participation of further academics, the number of academics who have signed the declaration has reached 2,212. With the indictment issued by the Prosecutor İsmet Bozkurt, lawsuits were filed against the academics on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article No. 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law No. 3713. As of October 30, 2019, 806 academics had stood trial since December 5, 2017, all the 204 academics whose cases were concluded were sentenced to prison. 146 of these academics were sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison; 8 academics to 1 year and 6 months in prison; 18 academics to 1 year, 10 months and 15 days in prison; 17 academics to 2 years and 3 months in prison; 7 academics to 2 years and 6 months in prison; 5 academics to 2 years and 1 month in prison; and one academic to 3 years in prison. Non-deferred prison sentences for 36 people Of these 204 people, the verdicts of conviction of 36 academics in total were not deferred; while the verdicts of 29 people were not deferred as their prison terms are over 2 years (as per the Article 286 of the Law on Criminal Courts), the verdicts of 7 academics were not deferred as they did not accept the deferment of the announcement of their verdicts. With her 15-month prison sentence upheld by the court of appeal, Academic for Peace Prof. Dr. Füsun Üstel was arrested on May 8, 2019 to be released on July 22. Constitutional Court said "violation of right" The General Assembly of the Constitutional Court examined the individual applications of 10 Academics for Peace sentenced to prison on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" for having signed the peace declaration. On July 26, 2019, the Court ruled that the penalization of Academics for Peace on charge of "terror propaganda" has violated their freedom of expression. The Court decided that a copy of this judgement shall be sent to all local courts in order to eliminate this right's violation and advised for retrial. The court also ruled to pay each applicant 9 thousand TRY in reparations. Acquittals After the new judicial year opened on September 2, the first verdict of acquittal for an Academic for Peace in accordance with the Constitutional Court ruling was given by the İstanbul 30th Heavy Penal Court on September 6. Since then, 27 courts have given verdicts of acquittal for Academics for Peace. Constitutional Court ruling and its consequences The ruling of the Constitutional Court stipulates that the local courts shall hold re-trials and give verdicts of acquittal in ongoing cases and for finalized sentences and the courts of appeal shall reverse the judgements in question. The State of Emergency Commission, which has not yet given its decision regarding the applications of discharged academics, shall also take the Constitutional Court ruling into account. However, it can still give contrary rulings. In the event that the Commission gives a decision against the academics, they will have the right to appeal to the Council of State. Though the Constitutional Court ruling is binding for the Council of State, any possible failure to withdraw the decisions of discharge will also be examined by the Constitutional Court. You can reach all news on Trials of Academics here You can reach the statements of Academics for Peace in English here |
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