Lawyer Rişvanoğlu Will be Brought to Court by Compulsion

The trial against lawyer Şiar Rişvanoğlu will be continued on 28 October before the Special Authority 6^th High Criminal Court of Adana (eastern Mediterranean). Rişvanoğlu works as a writer and editorial manager for the Gerçek newspaper and the Revolutionary Marxism magazine. He is tried for the thoughts he expressed on the Kurdish television channel Roj TV.

Rişvanoğlu is one of the founders of the Revolutionary Labour Party. The lawyer ran for office of the Adana Metropolitan Mayor in 2009 as a joint left-wing candidate. Before that, he was chairing the Adana Branch of the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD). Currently, he is one of the joint lawyers in the Hrant Dink murder case.

Bad timing

The case started on 16 September. Rişvanoğlu was going to present his defence in the hearing. Moreover, several colleagues and intellectuals were going to arrive from Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Antalya to support the lawyer. The defence party talked to the court president several days before the hearing to schedule the hearing in the afternoon. A related request was attached to the case file.

However, the hearing was scheduled in the morning. The intervention by the Adana Bar Association President to re-schedule the session was fruitless. The lawyers present left the court room protesting "the treatment of the defence party". Thereupon, the court issued the interlocutory decision to bring Rişvanoğlu to court by compulsion from his office located opposite the Courthouse.

Tried for using the term "Kurdistan"

In a program on Roj TV on 3 May, Rişvanoğlu said, "A commission has to be required to confidentially investigate all political murders in Kurdistan, all conspiracies, the massacres of the Botaş death wells, mass murders and rapes". A case was opened against the lawyer in astronomical speed. The first hearing was promptly scheduled for 16 September.

Prosecutor Mehmet Düzgün stated that Rişvanoğlu referred to the group from Habur (refugees affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party PKK) as "Peace Group" and that he called imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan the "leader of the Kurds". The prosecutor demanded a three count sentence according to Article 220 of the Turkish Criminal Law (TCK) under charges of "spreading propaganda for the PKK or the organization's aims". Rişvanoğlu is facing imprisonment of up to 13.5 years.

Un-detained defendant Rişvanoğlu is expected to present his defence on 28 October. Additionally, the Ministry of the Interior opened another case against the lawyer, claiming TL 10,000 (approx. € 5,000) in compensation by reason of "harming honour and dignity with the press release". (EÖ/VK)