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Turkey: Judiciary harassment against Osman Baydemir Date: 12-04-2007
Author: EMHRN
Update 12/04/2007
Osman Baydemir's trial with other 53 mayors have been postponed to 8 May 2007;On the last trial, the public prosecutor asked from the court judges to give 15 years imprisonment sentence for having sent a letter to Mr Rasmussen in order not to close down Roj Tv (Broadcasting from dDenmark in Kurd language).On 8 May 2007, the court will give its decision; if the judges accept the demand of the prosecutor, then the case file will be sent to the appeal court in ankara.

Mr Baydemir's trial regarding his speech and efforts to stop incidents during 28 March 2006 in Diyarbakir has been postponed too to 15 May 2007.
Although there is no administrative or judicial investigation against the police officers who killed 10 people that day, Osman Baydemir is under 5 years imprisonment sentence threat!

Update 27/03/2007
The trial about Osman Baydemir's speech during the 8th of March 2006 incidents and demonstrations in Diyarbakir took place on the 20th of March: It was postponed to the 15th of May 2007.
Another trial was held on the 13th March and was postponed to the 3rd of April. He is accused of aiding and assisting illegal organisation by sending a letter to Mr Rasmussen regarding Roj Tv. The case  file has been transferred to the public prosecutor for his last sentence; the last statement will be heard on the 3rd of april

Judiciary harassment against Osman Baydemir

From 2004 to 2007, more than 60 investigations and 7 courtcases were opened against Osman Baydemir, The Kurdish mayor of Diyarbakir, lawyer and former Vice-president of the IHD (Human Rights Association-Turkey).

 In the next two months, he will have to face Turkish justice five times!

On March 13, 2007:Osman Baydemir and 55 other mayor signatories will appear against court for “abetting and aiding an armed organization” due to their joint letter sent to the Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen concerning the possible closing of Roj TV.  They incur from 7,5 to 15 years of imprisonement.

On March 20, 2007:During a demonstration in March last year, violent confrontations took place between police forces and demonstrators. 13 people, 10 of them in Diyarbakir, were killed all throughout the incidents. During the events, despite all the efforts of the Mayor Baydemir in bringing calm to the events, which were all realized in constant coordination with the provincial governor as also stated in the indictment; parts of his public statements were distorted, and consequently he was turned into a target for state officials and the national media. There again, he is pursued for “aiding and abetting an armed organization” and incurs from 5 to 10 years of prison.

On April 12 and on April 26:Osman Baydemir willappear against court because of his statements in the two interviews published in a weekly mainstream magazine in Turkey. In the interviews, Baydemir expressed his various ideas about the Kurdish problem and human rights in Turkey. The Public Prosecutor accuses Osman Baydemir of transgressing the limits of the right to criticize and freedom of expression granted by the Turkish Constitution, in accordance with Articles 216/2 and 218 of the Turkish Penal Code. He faces one and half a year of prison.

On April 19:To have used the Kurdish letter “w” in his greetings cards of New Year’s day, prosecutors accuse Baydemir of violating a law that obliges state agencies, civic groups and private institutions to use Turkish letters. Osman Baydemir risks 6 to 12 months of imprisonment, for using the letter “w”, which exists in the Kurdish alphabet but not the Turkish one.

Besides hundreds of threat letters he has been receiving daily, Baydemir also faces alleged assassination plots, which are currently under legal investigation of official authorities.

The Euro-Mediterranean Network demands the Turkish government:

to put an end to what appears as a legal eagerness intended to silence an important and respected former human rights activist and a locally elected mayor in Turkey, and to respect the freedom of expression in any language.

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