Violence Victim Academician Faces Trial

As Bianet reports, Osman Erden, our colleague and assistant professor at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University who was detained and subjected to police violence in downtown Istanbul during Gezi Resistance, was ordered to stand trial for “resisting police officers and attending an illegal demonstration” with an indictment issued today. Erden is facing prison sentence up to 3 years.

ISTANBUL - Ayça Söylemez, Bianet News Desk  

Osman Erden, an assistant professor of art history at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University (MSGSÜ) who was detained and subjected to police violence in downtown Istanbul during Gezi Resistance, was ordered to stand trial for “resisting police officers and attending an illegal demonstration”.

Erden told Bianet that his complaint on the assaulting policemen has yet to yield any results.  

“I was lucky”

On July 14, Erden was detained in downtown Istanbul by the police during a press statement of TMMOB - Architects and Engineers Chambers Union of Turkey. 

Released the day after, he had told Bianet the following: “Police attacks began even before I got there. Scorpions [a police vehicle] were roaming. Rubber bullets hit me first. I found refuge at a friend’s cafe. When I took the street again, I was attacked by 10-15 policemen. Those wounds and swellings in my lips and head were caused by those policemen.”

As police took me to police detention van, Erden had said, I shouted my name and teaching position at MSGSÜ. “I was assaulted on the way to the police van, too. But no assaults took place after the detention.” 

“I was taken to Taksim Ilk Yardim Hospital. But I wasn’t admitted there, maybe because it was full. I was then taken to Kasımpaşa Police Station and Haseki Hospital. They didn’t give my medical report there.”

Erden told Bianet that MSGSÜ President and Sociology Department Dean was waiting for him at the police station when he was taken there on the night of July 14, 2013. 

“I wouldn’t be out so quickly if it weren’t for the President and Dean. Volunteer lawyers  from Istanbul Bar Association were also of great help. I was lucky, but some people are not as lucky as I am.”

First trial on February 25 

Along with other detainees Gökhan İrez, Okan Ersoy, Onur Karataş, Gökhan Tanrıverdi and Şevket Tokdabayev, Erden was ordered to stand trial at Istanbul 40th Assize Court on February 25, 2014. 

Issued by prosecutor Zeynel Sarıbuğa, the case indictment accused defendants for “attending an illegal protest” according to Turkey’s Demonstration Law (No:2911) Article 32. (AS/BM)