No verdict, only tribulations in 30-year trial
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Åžafak Timur
OluÅŸturulma Tarihi: Haziran 25, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Abba topped the music charts, the two superpowers’ leaders were named Carter and Brezhnev and the mobile phone had yet to be invented when 24-year-old leftist Cahit Akçam was arrested in 1980 for membership in an alleged terrorist organization.
He was to be tried under a newly instituted martial law, the prelude to Turkey's Sept. 12, 1980 military coup when thousands of people were arrested and judged. Now more likely to seek a remedy for arthritis than a remedy for capitalism, Akçam is over 50 but still in court in a modern day tribunal that invites comparison to the imaginary and endless prosecution in Franz Kafka’s novel, "The Trial." Â
The nearly three-decade old prosecution, with suspects becoming grandparents while awaiting the wheels of justice to turn, has even seen a suspect die of a heart attack without conviction or acquittal.
"The case is ongoing but our lives cannot be enough to see it," said Akçam, recalling that Nuri Ramazanoğlu, one of the suspects of the case died in February due to a heart attack.
At one point, more than 700 suspects made up the file. The European Court of Human Rights ultimately took up the case while it was ongoing, which resulted in an order to pay reparations to all the suspects. While the trial has yet to be formally concluded, some 20 defendants remain and could face prison terms from 40 days to three years. Today the Supreme Court of Appeals has taken up the case for the third time in Ankara.
The case, publicly known as the Dev-Yol main case, started in October 1982, judging members of the illegal socialist Revolutionary Road, or Dev-Yol, organization with various accusations from murder to breach of Constitution. It was in 1979 when Dev-Yol members started to be arrested, and it was only possible to complete the indictment in 1982 "My whole story of being a lawyer matches up with this case," said Şenal Sarıhan, one of the more than 100 lawyers who defended the suspects in the case.
The case started with 574 suspects, but during the process the number of suspects reached 723. The court made its first conclusion in 1989, sentencing seven suspects to death and 39 to life in prison. However, the Supreme Court of Appeals overruled the decision in 1995 and concluded that heavier penalties should be given to 20 suspects. The local court re-started the trials in 1996 and sentenced 22 suspects to the death penalty after around six years. However, it was just before the death penalty would be eliminated from Turkish law. The Supreme Court of Appeals one more time overruled the decision due to the fact that the death penalty was eliminated. It also appeared that 275 files of a total 740 files were lost, which was one of the defendants’ major arguments, alleging that the case was full of unlawfulness.
Torture, prevention of the use of right for defense, long probation times of 90 days and losing documents and files of the case are among the unlawfulness the defendants and lawyers of the case argued. "I am a person who went into a coma while my testimonies for this case were taken. Two people near me died due to torture," said Akçam, highlighting that the evidence of the case are shadowy as well.
"It was an inhumane and unlawful process when I lived in Mamak [where the defendants were tried and held in jail]. When I was turning back from Mamak I felt like there were two separate worlds: Mamak and Ankara, the capital," said Saruhan.
Jail one more time
After the second decision of the Supreme Court in 2005, the local court decided for life imprisonment for 20 suspects and more than 16 years for two. The defendants appealed the decision. Today, if the Supreme Court decides to approve the decision of the local court, the majority of defendants will be put into jail one more time.
"The law of execution aims to ’rehabilitate,’ even though in my belief this is not the case for crimes of thought," Saruhan said. Akçam believes the suit should be dropped or defendants should be acquitted like in other cases regarding Dev Ğ Yol.
The nearly three-decade old prosecution, with suspects becoming grandparents while awaiting the wheels of justice to turn, has even seen a suspect die of a heart attack without conviction or acquittal.
"The case is ongoing but our lives cannot be enough to see it," said Akçam, recalling that Nuri Ramazanoğlu, one of the suspects of the case died in February due to a heart attack.
At one point, more than 700 suspects made up the file. The European Court of Human Rights ultimately took up the case while it was ongoing, which resulted in an order to pay reparations to all the suspects. While the trial has yet to be formally concluded, some 20 defendants remain and could face prison terms from 40 days to three years. Today the Supreme Court of Appeals has taken up the case for the third time in Ankara.
The case, publicly known as the Dev-Yol main case, started in October 1982, judging members of the illegal socialist Revolutionary Road, or Dev-Yol, organization with various accusations from murder to breach of Constitution. It was in 1979 when Dev-Yol members started to be arrested, and it was only possible to complete the indictment in 1982 "My whole story of being a lawyer matches up with this case," said Şenal Sarıhan, one of the more than 100 lawyers who defended the suspects in the case.
The case started with 574 suspects, but during the process the number of suspects reached 723. The court made its first conclusion in 1989, sentencing seven suspects to death and 39 to life in prison. However, the Supreme Court of Appeals overruled the decision in 1995 and concluded that heavier penalties should be given to 20 suspects. The local court re-started the trials in 1996 and sentenced 22 suspects to the death penalty after around six years. However, it was just before the death penalty would be eliminated from Turkish law. The Supreme Court of Appeals one more time overruled the decision due to the fact that the death penalty was eliminated. It also appeared that 275 files of a total 740 files were lost, which was one of the defendants’ major arguments, alleging that the case was full of unlawfulness.
Torture, prevention of the use of right for defense, long probation times of 90 days and losing documents and files of the case are among the unlawfulness the defendants and lawyers of the case argued. "I am a person who went into a coma while my testimonies for this case were taken. Two people near me died due to torture," said Akçam, highlighting that the evidence of the case are shadowy as well.
"It was an inhumane and unlawful process when I lived in Mamak [where the defendants were tried and held in jail]. When I was turning back from Mamak I felt like there were two separate worlds: Mamak and Ankara, the capital," said Saruhan.
Jail one more time
After the second decision of the Supreme Court in 2005, the local court decided for life imprisonment for 20 suspects and more than 16 years for two. The defendants appealed the decision. Today, if the Supreme Court decides to approve the decision of the local court, the majority of defendants will be put into jail one more time.
"The law of execution aims to ’rehabilitate,’ even though in my belief this is not the case for crimes of thought," Saruhan said. Akçam believes the suit should be dropped or defendants should be acquitted like in other cases regarding Dev Ğ Yol.