A Letter From Bakirkoy Women’s Prison

ISTANBUL | 01 – 06 – 2010 | Hello, By the time my letter reaches you it would be around 9 months since I have been imprisoned as a result of conspiracy.

I would like to state that I have not had a court hearing since my arrest. It has only been few weeks the indictment and the date of the first hearing are announced. My first trial will be on 26^th August 2010! This is a year after I have been arrested! It is very clear that this is a product of the mentality which pre-punishes without questioning. 

Keeping people in jail for a year without being tried creates a clear example for the lawlessness within the state’s own law in itself. However, issues regarding the hearing date don’t end there. The hearing coincide with the judiciary recess which means that the trial will be heard before a duty board instead of the official staff; which obviously is a clear disadvantage for the trial.

As well as issues relating to the trial of this case, I mainly want to dwell on the indictment. If we look at the indictment, Umut Publishing and its publications İşçi-Köylü newspaper, Partizan and New Democratic Youth periodicals are ‘illegal’ and consequently this makes anyone working at these publications are conducting ‘illegal’ activities. Because, in the indictment papers for my case covers nothing other than working for the newspaper, there are no ‘evidence’ on me performing any activities outside the democratic area.

Here are few examples of ‘evidence’ used in the indictment papers; ringing to report an arrest and in correspondence ask if head office has been informed, phone conversations made from the newspapers office, accounts such as office rent, electricity and phone bills which are clear to be the newspapers expenses and two articles published in the paper! And, even if these articles had any ‘criminal elements’ a lawsuit would already been filed, you cannot open a second lawsuit file, and if no lawsuits were filed regarding this, it means there is no ‘problem’ with it. Also these are articles-interviews that can be publicly published and this is what has been done.

Besides these, I am being prosecuted for being a’ member of an illegal organization’ with an indictment paper which has no ‘evidence’, witness nor any statement against me.

The clear intention in this is to silence and counteract the opposition press and its activities. Shadow the legitimacy and the rightfulness of the opposition (socialist) press and its workers whom take on the duty to show and expose the real face of the system to the people; to isolate the oppressed workers and toilers in order to prevent the exposure of the realities of the system to the wider masses. And whilst doing this, they do not even hesitate to violate their own laws. This lawlessness is not only limited with my arrest and a year long wait for the first court hearing.

Umut Publishing publishes all its publications, i.e. İşçi-Köylü, Partizan, YDG in the framework of the laws of the current system. And it is subject to taxation by the state within the same framework of laws. In other words the state finances its treasury via the incomes of these publishers which it claims to be ‘illegal’.

Thus, if there is an illegality, it would be the one amongst the laws of the state which obviously allows it to happen!

Briefly, the state is announcing itself guilty too via its indictments against me!

My intention with this letter is to expose the lawlessness to İşçi-Köylü readers and to the public which started with a conspiracy; and also, to exclaim that no conspiracy can silence the opposition press nor eliminate our rightfulness and legitimacy.

Suzan Zengin

Bakirkoy Women’s Prison

May 2010