Pen Norway, in cooperation with the judges, lawyers and academics from many conutries from Europe to Turkey, began to prepare reports for 12 indictments of the prominent press and civil society cases.
In this context, lawyer and academic Şerife Ceren Uysal evaluated the 247-page indictment against 17 suspects, including Ahmet Altan, by Istanbul Public Prosecutor Can Tuncay.
There is no evidence of the crimes dedicated
According to Uysal, the journalists mentioned in the indictment do not have the “opportunity to catch the slightest evidence” regarding the crimes allegedly committed. The prosecutor’s allegations and grounds are nothing more than confusing.
The main problem is that the indictment has “an incorrect legal qualification from beginning to end”. The definition of ‘terror crime’ is completely misinterpreted by the prosecutor and the evaluation of Ahmet Altan’s statements within the framework of freedom of thought within the terror crime, which has the elements of use of force and violence. Uysal asks the question of how Altan, who is not even alleged to use force and violence, committed the terrorist crime.
The answer to this question is that the prosecutor expands a new definition of violence to include discourse and moves away from the norm.
Legal impossibility in the indictment is overcome by ‘comment’
From the report:
”The prosecutor’s allegation that, by means of their acts made up of only words and writing, the journalist suspects have committed a crime whose elements are clearly defined as coercion -that is, a crime that is impossible to commit through these acts. Similarly, the prosecutor’s grounds for the allegation, which is “expression and propaganda are the predecessor of the term [that is, of the act] of coercion.” In fact, the prosecutor’s allegation and reasoning should be assessed in conjunction with the act of “conveying subliminal message” that the prosecutor’s warrant of arrest refers to.”
Click here for the whole report.