Dismissed and arrested justice Süleyman Pehlivan, member of Court of Cassation and former “Sledgehammer” coup prosecutor, was sentenced to 13 years 6 months in prison over the pretext of terrorism charges on 21 February 2019.
Furthermore, court ruled for continuation of his detention although he surrendered by himself to prosecution office in 3 August 2016.
He has been kept in solitary confinement cell in prison since August 2016.
Source:
www.memurlar.net
Dismissed and arrested Justice İlhan Kaya, member of Court of Cassation, was sentenced to 9 years 4 months in prison over the pretext of terrorism charges on 20 February 2019.
Furthermore, court ruled for continuation of his detention.
He has been kept in solitary confinement cell in prison since July 2016.
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Dismissed and arrested Justice Dursun Altınöz, member of Court of Cassation, was sentenced to 7 years 6 months in prison over the pretext of terrorism charges on 19 February 2019
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Dismissed and arrested justice Hamza Yaman, member of Court of Cassation, was sentenced to 11 years in prison over the pretext of terrorism charges on 18 February 2019. Furthermore, court ruled for continuation of his detention. He has been kept in solitary confinement cell in prison since July 2016.
Upon his lawyer’s application, UN WGAD (The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention) decided that member of Court of Cassation, justice Hamza Yaman’s ongoing incarceration is arbitrary and unlawful on 28 November 2018.
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Dismissed and arrested justice Mehmet Uslu, member of Court of Cassation, was sentenced to 13 years 6 months in prison over the pretext of terrorism charges on 12 February 2019.
Furthermore, court ruled for continuation of his detention.
He has been kept in solitary confinement cell in prison since July 2016.
Source: www.memurlar.net
Dismissed and arrested justice İsmail Ergün, member of Court of Cassation, was sentenced to 7 years 6 months in prison over the pretext of terrorism charges on 11 February 2019.
Source:
www.memurlar.net
Dismissed judge Betül S. and her husband, judge BozanS. were respectively sentenced to 6 years 10 months and 8 years 1 month in prison over the pretext of terrorism charges on 11 February 2019. Moreover, judge Bozan S. who was released at pending trial is arrested again at the last hearing.
Source:
www.memurlar.net
Judge Hüseyin Serter, a former member of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HCJP)-previous name of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (CJP)- between 2010-2014 and who has been detained in solitary cell for about 31 months, has not been released despite the 90% of hearing loss in his right ear and his urgent need for treatment.
Judge Serter began his career as a judge in 1988. Following his service as chief judge at heavy penal criminal courts in Siirt, Düzce, and Adana provinces, he was elected by his peers as HCJP member with the second highest vote in 2010. At the end of his four-year term of office, he was appointed to West Ankara Court House.
He was one of 2745 judges and prosecutors who were dismissed and arrested just after the July 15 coup attempt based on the list prepared by the Head Prosecutor’s Office of Ankara during the night of 15th July, 2016.
Mr. Serter was detained on 21 July 2016 and since then he has been held in an arbitrary solitary cell for almost 31 months despite the fact that he has not received any disciplinary sanction.
According to the latest information on social media, his right ear has lost 90 % of its hearing function due to severe prison conditions.
While he has been in urgent need of treatment, he has not only been provided necessary treatment, but his release petitions have been dismissed with the same and subtle reasons.
Judge Teoman Gökçe, who was another member of the HCJP and a colleague of Mr. Serter, had been found dead in his solitary confinement cell on 02.04.2018 at the age of 49. His death cause was announced as heart-attack.
Sources:
1. www.memurlar.net
2. www.milliyet.com.tr
3. twitter.com/magduriyetlertr
4. www.freejudges.eu
Salih Sönmez a member of the Court of Cassation was arrested on July 21, 2016, and is still in solitary confinement. His application regarding violation of his rights during detention and arrest was rejected by the Constitutional Court on the grounds that, “the remedies regarding compensation were not exhausted”.
In its judgment dated 8 January 2018, the court held unanimously that the applicant had not been brought before the judge or the court for 21 months after his arrest, however, the case of the arrestee was examined in a non-trial manner, and that a violation decision by the Constitutional Court would not result in the release of the applicant, if there was a violation of the right of the applicant in that respect, it would have been sufficient to award him a certain amount of compensation by the local court according to the article 141 of Criminal Procedure Code. Therefore the remedy in Article 141 of CPC was an effective way of law to make up for the situation of the applicant; he could not apply to the Constitutional Court without exhausting the usual remedy.
The decision once again sparked the debate that the Constitutional Court is not an effective remedy to be exhausted within the Turkish judicial system.
Dr. Kerem Altıparmak, a human rights activists reacted to the decision on his social media account stating that “The Constitutional Court in its decision about Salih Sönmez found inadmissible the application of a member of the Court of Cassation who had not been brought before the judge or the court for 21 months after his arrest saying that why didn’t you bring a lawsuit for compensation. Really, why couldn’t the member of Court of Cassation think such a wonderful solution?
In his other share about the same case, Altıparmak said that “in this case (Constitutional Court) went one step further. If you read, you will see. What will happen if you stand before the judge? The detention will continue. This is incredible, really incredible.”
Professor Yaman Akdeniz, on the other hand, criticized that although the Article 141 of CPC is not an effective domestic remedy, both the Constitutional Court and ECHR accept it as a solution to the violations of rights related to arrest saying that on his social media account:
“According to the Constitutional Court, the solution of everything related to arrest is the bringing a lawsuit for compensation in accordance with the article 141 of CPC. Although it is crystal clear that the article 141 is not an effective way, the Constitutional Court says there’s no need for making an application due to a violation of rights, claim compensation. Oh yeah! ECHR is still eating the bait; that is another issue.”
Hundreds of the members of the Court of Cassation and the Council of state, two members of the Constitutional Court, thousands of judges and prosecutors were detained and arrested under the pretext of the July 15 coup attempt. All the members of high courts and the majority of judges and prosecutors are still held in solitary confinement.
Sources:
1.http://www.anayasa.gov.tr/icsayfalar/basin/kararlarailiskinbasinduyurulari/bireyselbasvuru/detay/dokuman/pdf/231.pdf
2. https://twitter.com/KeremALTIPARMAK/status/1082610861431230465
3. https://twitter.com/KeremALTIPARMAK/status/1082613761435938817
4. https://twitter.com/cyberrights/status/1082664208829952002
Mehmet Köroğlu, taken into custody on the ground that his name was among judges and prosecutors dismissed by the High Council after the coup attempt on July 15. Judge Köroğlu was arrested on July 19, 2016 without any evidence other than the list of the Council.
Subjected to severe prison conditions, he was released after a 20-month-period following his arrest on condition not leaving the border of the province he lived in. Köroğlu, dismissed from his profession, he started in 2013, and being not allowed to perform as a lawyer or to work in any public institution, he was almost sentenced to civilian death.
Köroğlu, who continued his struggle for life under such heavy psychological pressure at a young age, was taken to the hospital a while ago due to convulsion. After the tests, infection was detected in his brain. Because of this infection, he lost both his vision and his memory, and he couldn’t even recognize his wife.
Judge Köroğlu was released from the hospital recently and his treatment is still ongoing. He has a 4-year-old son and his wife is pregnant.
Source:
https://twitter.com/CalikusuKoroglu/status/1077092598341345280?s=19