İstanbul - Third hearing of the trial where 23 defendants, including Etkin News Agency (ETHA) reporter and social worker Adil Demirci, are tried on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “terrorist propaganda” was held at the Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court today. The court ordered the release of four defendants who have been tried whilst in detention during today's hearing.
Although the hearing was scheduled to start at 13:30, it did not start until 14:49 due to delays with previous hearings. 9 defendants were present in the courtroom including the four detained defendants and journalist Adil Demirci. Representatives from the German Consulate monitored the trial as well.
During the hearing, defense statements of those who haven’t presented one were heard. The defendants accepted that they have attended the funerals and memorials specified in the indictment, adding that attending such events does not constitute a crime.
Documents that entered the case file between hearings were read out loud by Presiding Judge Selami Yılmaz during the hearing. Yılmaz also read an intelligence report that is included in the file per the court’s request. The report alleged that Adil Demirci traveled to Syria and Northern Iraq as a courier.
Demirci denied these allegations and his lawyers demanded the report to be excluded from the case file, arguing that the report aims to influence the judiciary and violates the right to a fair trial.
In his statement to MLSA, Demirci’s lawyer Keleş Öztürk said: “There are Constitutional Court and Supreme Court decisions that rule that such reports cannot be used as evidence and that it is unlawful to include such baseless intelligence reports in the case file. Adding such a preposterous report to the file aims to present a deceitful portrayal my client and unlawfully attempts to influence the fair trial process.”
Presiding Judge Yılmaz’s attitude towards the drew the attention of the audience. Yılmaz addressed to the defendants as “sen” (singular you - an unprofessional manner in the courtroom) and interrupted the defense statements frequently. Yılmaz asked some questions that were irrelevant to the proceedings such as “Have you ever participated in demonstrations only because your friends asked you to?” When lawyers referred to relevant European Court of Human Rights judgements, the judge replied: “Let’s see if they can reach such judgements if several bombs go off in their cities.”
During the hearing, the prosecutor demanded the release of four defendants who are tried whilst in detention. Other defendants demanded judicial control measures such as the international travel ban to be lifted.
The court announced its interim decision following a short break. The court rejected all demands regarding the lifting of judicial control measures and ordered the release of Ali Karaçay, Engin Sınağ, Ersin Sedefoğlu and Gönül Gören with judicial control measures.
ETHA reporter Adil Demirci was released during the previous hearing (February 14) following a ten-month detention period. Demirci, who is a German citizen, demanded his international travel ban to be lifted this hearing but the court rejected his request.
The court adjourned the trial until 15 October.
