Sunday, January 29, 2012

6-Year Prison Sentence because of a Letter

According to the report on Bianet by Ayca Soylemez, "Defendants Sevgi Dalyan, Sercan Ahmet Arslan, Mehmet Aracı, Ali Arslan, Mahir Arslan and Cemil Onur Çelikdağ were each sentenced to imprisonment of six years and three months on charges of "membership in the Party and Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of the Turkish People (DHKP-C)" according to Article 314/2 of the Turkish Criminal Law (TCK).

Evidence the decision was based on included flags, banners, letters from prisoners, the defendants'answers and a CD of the Grup Yorum band found when the defendants' homes were searched. [...] The according trial was handled by the Erzurum 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance and included a total of eight defendants. Letters written by their imprisoned friends and the defendants' answers were included in the indictment as evidence. [... P]osting a banner reading "We want free education" was also accounted for as evidence. Another reason for the trial was posting a banner featuring the slogan 'Release detained students'."

To see the full report please visit:

http://bianet.org/english/youth/135690-6-year-prison-sentence-because-of-a-letter