ny times
By SEBNEM ARSU
Published: January 4, 2011
ISTANBUL — More than 20 suspected militants, including members of an extreme Islamist organization, were released from Turkish jails on Tuesday after a Supreme Court of Appeals ruling that limits to 10 years the time detainees can be held without being sentenced.
Eighteen members of Turkish Hezbollah — a Sunni organization unrelated to the Shiite Hezbollah group active in Lebanon — and five members of the outlawed P.K.K., an armed Kurdish independence movement, were set free after having spent more than 10 years in jail awaiting the endorsement of their sentences by the Supreme Court of Appeals.
Under the Turkish legal system, any local court conviction has to be approved by the Supreme Court of Appeals before a sentence can be put into effect.
The practice of jailing detainees indefinitely without sentences has long disturbed human rights advocates, who were only slightly mollified by the court ruling. They say the 10-year limit, which was based on a recent amendment to the Turkish criminal code, does not go far enough in securing detainees’ rights.
“There are numerous verdicts by the European Human Rights Court that limit imprisonment of detainees to reasonable terms,” said Suheyl Donay, a criminal law professor at Istanbul University. “This term is often not more than two years, so this ruling is a wrong one.”
The released detainees will not be able to leave the country and must report to the local police on a regular basis. Nevertheless, the prisoner releases and the prospect of many more to come — the Turkish news media have reported that more than 50,000 have applied for review of their cases — have raised concerns.
At trial, as Turkish news reports repeatedly reminded the public, forensic experts testified that the Hezbollah members had executed numerous victims by burying them alive, their hands and feet tied together.
Television video showed dozens of supporters celebrating as a senior member of the Turkish Hezbollah network was released from a jail in Diyarbakir, in southeast Turkey. The militant, Edip Gumus, was arrested in 2000 and given a life sentence in December 2009 for belonging to a terrorist organization and participating in the murders of more than 100 people. He has denied the murder charges but acknowledges his affiliation with the group.
Under the Turkish legal system, any local court conviction has to be approved by the Supreme Court of Appeals before a sentence can be put into effect.
The practice of jailing detainees indefinitely without sentences has long disturbed human rights advocates, who were only slightly mollified by the court ruling. They say the 10-year limit, which was based on a recent amendment to the Turkish criminal code, does not go far enough in securing detainees’ rights.
“There are numerous verdicts by the European Human Rights Court that limit imprisonment of detainees to reasonable terms,” said Suheyl Donay, a criminal law professor at Istanbul University. “This term is often not more than two years, so this ruling is a wrong one.”
The released detainees will not be able to leave the country and must report to the local police on a regular basis. Nevertheless, the prisoner releases and the prospect of many more to come — the Turkish news media have reported that more than 50,000 have applied for review of their cases — have raised concerns.
At trial, as Turkish news reports repeatedly reminded the public, forensic experts testified that the Hezbollah members had executed numerous victims by burying them alive, their hands and feet tied together.
Television video showed dozens of supporters celebrating as a senior member of the Turkish Hezbollah network was released from a jail in Diyarbakir, in southeast Turkey. The militant, Edip Gumus, was arrested in 2000 and given a life sentence in December 2009 for belonging to a terrorist organization and participating in the murders of more than 100 people. He has denied the murder charges but acknowledges his affiliation with the group.
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