Pınar Sağ: Double Standards in Judiciary?
The case againstTurkish folk music singer Pınar Sağ on the grounds of her utterances related to leftist revolutionist İbrahim Kaypakkaya was continued on Wednesday (22 December).
Sağ is charged with "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization" and "praising crime and a criminal". She is facing prison terms of up to five years. At the Wednesday hearing she said, "I do not think that I committed a crime by talking about İbrahim Kaypakkaya".
The singer gave her statement at the Istanbul 9th High Criminal Court upon a directive. The trial is heard at the 3rd High Criminal Court of Malatya (south-eastern Turkey).
"I do not think that I committed a crime or that Kaypakkaya was a criminal"
Sağ appeared at the Beşiktaş (Istanbul) Courthouse together with her lawyer Taylan Tanay. In the hearing she said, "I do not think that I committed a crime by mentioning İbrahim Kaypakkaya during the concert. I did not make any organizational propaganda. I do not think that İbrahim Kaypakkaya is a criminal either. Kaypakkaya was killed in the Diyarbakır Prison".
The singer requested to continue her defence speech in Malatya.
She pointed to the Prime Minister who was applauded when he commemorated Erdal Eren, a 17-year-old who was executed after the 1980 military coup, and also other people, whereas artists were being prosecuted when they commemorate the same people on stage for alleged propaganda for an illegal organizaiton, she criticized. Sağ claimed that this situation was unlawful.
The other defendant of the trial, local artist Mehmet Özcan, did not attend the hearing because he was abroad. The court board adjourned the hearing in order to hear the Özcan's statement.
Five-year prison threat
The Tunceli Magistrate Criminal Court (eastern Anatolia) opened a trial against Sağ on the grounds of her utterances at an event organized to support independent candidate Murat Kur in the run-up to the elections on 29 March. She had said, "I greet the people of Dersim that stand upright and openly like İbrahim Kaypakkaya".
İbrahim Kaypakkaya was the founder of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist Leninist (TKP/ML)-TİKKO organization. He was injured in an armed conflict with the security forces in 1973. He was arrested and taken to the Diyarbakır Prison where he died of torture.
The indictment prepared by the Tunceli Public Chief prosecution alleged defendants Sağ and Özcan of praising İbrahim Kaypakkaya as the founder and executive of a terrorist organization in their speeches delivered at the event.
The indictment sought prison terms of up to two years each on charges of "praising crime and a criminal".
The Tunceli Magistrate Criminal Court accepted the indictment but decided for "lack of jurisdiction" and forwarded the file to the Malatya 3rd High Criminal Court.
Thereupon, the Malatya 3rd High Criminal Court modified the classification of offence due to an alleged affiliation with a terrorist organization. Hence, Özcan and Sağ are each facing imprisonment of between one and five years under charges of "spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization". (BB/VK)