Pınar Selek Case: Despite being acquitted for four times, the court will wait for Selek’s extradition

PAPATYA YILMAZ*

The trial of sociologist-writer Pınar Selek in the Istanbul Spice Bazaar Explosion Case, which started 25 years ago, has started again. In the first hearing held on 31 March 2023 at the Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court, over 40 lawyers were present on behalf of Selek. Additionally, lawyers from the Paris and Marseille Bar Associations were also in the courtroom. The court decided to wait for Selek's extradition to Turkey to take her statement. The next hearing will be held on September 29. Selek had previously been acquitted four times of the charges of “attempting to separate a part of the territories under state sovereignty from state administration,” “unauthorized possession or transfer of dangerous substances,” and “being a member of an illegal armed organization” in the same case.

Lawyer Atalay: The acquittal has not only humanitarian but also legal grounds

The court president opened the hearing by summarizing the current state of the case file and stated that they contacted France for Selek's defense. The judge, who reminded that an international arrest warrant has been issued against Selek, said, “The issue of extradition is at the discretion of the French Ministry of Justice. We will also provide the right to speak through interpreters to the lawyers who came from the French Bar Associations.” Akın Atalay, who took the floor first, stated that this file, which resulted in four acquittals, should end with an acquittal once again. “An impression arises that the courts have an obligation to comply with what the Court of Cassation General Assembly said as the highest judicial authority in the judiciary after its latest decision. However, we do not share this view. In other words, not only for justice and fairness but also for legal grounds, there are reasons for giving another acquittal decision.” Atalay explained that his client could not be defined as “fugitive” according to the laws since she has been living abroad for many years. He said that there was no need for arrest, and the trial could continue by taking Selek's statement through rogatory letters in an address that will be presented to the court. Mehmet Erbil, the lawyer of Abdülmecit Öztürk, also took the floor and reminded that his client's acquittal decision was finalized. He demanded the revocation of the unlawful arrest warrant. Although Öztürk's acquittal decision was upheld in 2008, the Court of Cassation decided to issue an arrest warrant for Öztürk in its decision dated 2022.

Paris Bar Association lawyers made a statement

After Atalay and Erbil, lawyers from the Paris Bar Association spoke. Lawyers Martin Pradel and Françoise Cotta made statements. Pradel said, “We have anger in us due to a case that has been going on for 25 years and needs to recognize her innocence, but I hope that justice will be served for Pınar Selek”; while Cotta said, “We say judges are guardians of the law, and we hope that you will put an end to Pınar's legal process that has lasted longer than necessary.” The judge also spoke after the French lawyers and said, “Negotiations with the EU continue. We accept them as guests here because they do not have an official status as lawyers here, but they have consulting roles in international law with foreign partnerships.”

The court decided to wait for Selek's extradition

After the statements of the lawyers, the prosecutor presented his opinion in favor of complying with the appeal court's decision. The prosecutor requested that the demand for Selek's testimony to be taken in the place where she is be rejected, and demanded that the execution of the arrest warrant be awaited. The court rejected the request for Selek's testimony to be taken in France and decided to wait for the execution of the arrest warrant. This means that Selek will be extradited to Turkey and arrested. The next hearing will be held on Friday, September 29th at 2:00 PM.

An endless trial

In July 1998, eight people died in an explosion at the Egyptian Bazaar. The incident report and later the Criminal Laboratory report stated that no evidence of a bomb was found in the explosion. The possibility of a gas cylinder explosion was considered. Two days after the incident, sociologist Pınar Selek was arrested. Selek, who was subjected to severe torture, was asked about the names of people she had met during her work on the Kurdish issue. She was then arrested on charges of “being a member of an illegal armed organization.” While in prison, Selek learned from television news that she was associated with the Egyptian Bazaar explosion.

Reports: No evidence of a bomb

The incident report prepared by the police bomb experts and the Criminal Laboratory report stated that there was no evidence of a bomb in the explosion. However, Selek was indicted for the Egyptian Bazaar explosion. The only direct basis for the accusation was a police statement by a person named Abdülmecit Öztürk, who said, “We planted a bomb in the Egyptian Bazaar with Pınar Selek.” Öztürk later stated that this statement was given under torture and that he did not know Selek.

Acquitted repeatedly, overturned by the Court of Cassation

Selek's trial began in November 1998. The verdict was overturned by the Court of Cassation every time. She was acquitted in 2006, 2008, and 2011. In 2013, she was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment, despite the opposition of the presiding judge. The Court of Cassation also overturned this decision. In 2014, Selek was acquitted for the fourth time in the retrial. However, in 2022, the Court of Cassation's Criminal Chamber overturned this decision and decided that Selek should be punished with aggravated life imprisonment. Thus, the trial began again. *This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The work may be used and redistributed for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution to the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA).