Sentences for Army Officers Revoked

İn the trial related to the bombing of a bookstore in Şemdinli, a district town in the south-eastern province of Hakkari, the court of appeals has overturned the prison sentence of 39 years, 5 months and 10 days of the suspect gendarme sergeants Ali Kaya and Özcan İldeniz. The court claimed that there was insufficient investigation and that the trial should have been taken to a military court.

All eyes on Van

The Heavy Penal Court of Van had convicted the accused of "forming a gang, murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm" in June 2006. The case will now be referred back to Van, and it is technically possible for the court there to insist on its verdict. İf so, the case would be referred to the Court of Appeals General Committee, and the committee's decision would be binding. Should Van accept the ruling of the court of appeals, the case would be transferred to a regional military court.

Tanrikulu: Not surprised

Sezgin Tanrikulu, the president of the Diyarbakir Bar Association and one of the lawyers involved in the case, claimed in an interview with bianet that General Staff President Yaşar Büyükanit's speech on 12 April had led to this decision. Büyükanit had, after the local court decision, claimed that "justice had been murdered". The Diyarbakir Bar Association has filed a complaint against Büyükanit for "attempting to influence an impartial trial".

Protests from both sides

The lawyers bringing the case had filed a complaint against the suspects under Article 302 of the Penal Code for "subjugating part or all of the state territory to foreign rule or weakening the state's independence or unity or attempting to control state territory".

The defending lawyers on the other hand, have claimed that the case was brought to increase European Union pressure to dispense with the jandarma organization; they want the verdict to be overturned. (TK/AA/YE)