Epress.am News from Armenia
EU–Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee Chair Hélène Flautre will be in Istanbul to observe the trials of the Hrant Dink case on Feb. 7 and the Pinar Selek case on Feb. 9, reports BIA News Centre.
Ethnic Armenian journalist and editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, ,Hrant Dink was murdered in Istanbul in January 2007 by Ogün Samast, a 17-year old Turkish nationalist. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has already convicted Turkey of a violation of the right to life, the right to an effective remedy and freedom of expression in the scope of the trial on Dink’s murder.
An appeal in support to Pinar Selek has been launched at the European Parliament. The text of the appeal as it stands on Feb. 4 is as follows:
“This Feb. 9, Pinar Selek will be retried for the umpteenth time after 13 years of judicial harassment. Kafkian trials where she is charged of having placed a bomb in the Egyptian Bazaar in Istanbul despite several reports attributing the explosion to a gas leak.
“What are the ‘crimes’ this Turkish sociologist, writer and activist is accused of? Nothing else than analyzing society, questioning its taboos and engaging herself with the most vulnerable people. As an engaged citizen, she pays dearly her will to understand the Kurdish matter in a period dominated by a police state where torture was systematic.
“Already cleared twice, her case is returned to the Supreme Court of Appeals’ Grand Chamber without any new evidence brought to the file; she now faces life imprisonment after judicial twists as incomprehensible and unacceptable in the light of Turkey’s commitments to human rights.
“We listened to Pinar’s story when she was invited by the European Parliament, a story of injustice and continuing threats during the past 13 years. Convinced, as were the judges of first instance, of her innocence, we decided to join the Friends of Pinar group. We hope she will again be cleared on Feb. 9 so she can finally build a free life.
“We decided to bring this claim to the European Parliament debate and to support her battle for justice.”