Elif Akgül
The fourth hearing in the retrial of sociologist and writer Pınar Selek, whose fourth acquittal in the Egyptian Bazaar case was overturned by Turkey’s Court of Cassation, was held at the Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court. Due to a change in the judge panel, the court postponed the trial to April 25.
Heavy security presence in courthouse
Ahead of the hearing at the Çağlayan Courthouse in Istanbul, security measures were significantly increased, with a large number of riot police officers stationed in the courtroom corridor.
Scheduled to begin at 2 p.m., the hearing started with a 30-minute delay. Many lawyers and academics from Turkey and France attended the session, which was also monitored by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA).
Defense arguments and legal disputes
The first to speak was lawyer Mehmet Erbil, representing defendant Abdülmecit Öztürk. He noted that Öztürk had been acquitted of charges related to the 1998 Egyptian Bazaar explosion in an initial trial at the Istanbul 12th High Criminal Court but was sentenced to 12 years in prison for other offenses. Since there was no appeal against this ruling, the Court of Cassation’s 9th Criminal Chamber had upheld his acquired legal rights, Erbil argued.
However, when the case was sent back to the Istanbul 12th High Criminal Court, Öztürk was sentenced to 12 years and six months. Erbil stated that since there was no appeal against the sentence, his client had already served nine years and two months. He requested the revocation of the arrest warrant, arguing that it was unlawful.
Pınar Selek’s lawyer, Bahri Belen, raised concerns over a document submitted by Turkey’s Interior Ministry, which allegedly framed an academic event at a French university as a "PKK event." He pointed out that in the previous hearing, they had already made statements regarding the document’s validity under international law and later submitted a detailed petition. However, he noted that these statements and the petition had not been uploaded to Turkey’s National Judiciary Informatics System (UYAP).
Next hearing scheduled for April 25
The prosecutor requested that the court wait for the implementation of interim rulings before proceeding.
Announcing its interim decision, the court ruled that the relevant petition should be uploaded to UYAP, that the arrest warrant for Pınar Selek and the detention order for Abdülmecit Öztürk should remain in effect, and that a request should be sent to the Ministry of Justice to follow up on correspondence with French judicial authorities regarding Selek’s testimony. The next hearing was scheduled for April 25 at 10:30 a.m.
Background on the case
Pınar Selek has been on trial for 25 years in connection with the July 1998 explosion at Istanbul’s Egyptian Bazaar, which killed seven people. She has been acquitted four times, but each acquittal was overturned by the Court of Cassation.
All expert reports concluded that the explosion was caused by a gas leak, not a bomb. Additionally, the only co-defendant who had initially testified that Selek planted a bomb later retracted his statement in court, claiming it was obtained under torture and that he did not know Selek.
In the most recent trial, which concluded in 2014, Selek was acquitted for a fifth time. However, in 2022, the Court of Cassation’s General Assembly overturned the ruling, arguing that she should receive an aggravated life sentence. As a result, the case was reopened for the sixth time.
Selek is charged with attempting to "separate part of the state’s territory from its administration," "possessing or transferring dangerous materials without permission," and "being a member of an illegal armed organization."
