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Mehmet Desde has been moved to a different
prison in Alanya.
His new address is:
L tipi kapalı cezaevi
C 15 Mahmutlar/Alanya
Antalya
Turkey
Please would you continue
writing to him.
Mehmet Desde was imprisoned on 8 June 2007 solely on the basis
of his non-violent political beliefs. He was convicted following
an unfair trial, largely on the basis of statements allegedly extracted
under torture. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner
of conscience.
On 25 December 2006, the 9th Chamber of the Court of Cassation,
Turkey's highest court, upheld the March 2006 convictions of Mehmet
Desde and four others for "membership of an illegal organization",
and of three more people for "supporting an illegal organization".
The convictions relate to the men's alleged connection with the
Bolshevik Party (North Kurdistan/Turkey), a small, non-violent opposition
party. During their trial the men denied being members of the group.
The evidence used to convict the eight consisted mainly of statements
allegedly extracted from some of them under torture, as well as
the discovery of legal journals in their possession, and leaflets
and stickers in the name of the Bolshevik Party (North Kurdistan/Turkey).
The eight were detained on 9-10 July 2002.
Mehmet Desde faces a 30-month prison sentence (of which he will
serve around 17 months, having already served six months).
The decision by the 9th Chamber of the Court of Cassation to uphold
the convictions comes after a prolonged judicial process which has
seen two retrials of the eight men, and two previous decisions by
the Court of Cassation to quash verdicts of the lower court in the
town of Izmir. The Izmir public prosecutor in both retrials had
recommended the acquittal of the defendants, and the Chief Public
Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation recommended that the verdicts
be quashed.
The 8th Chamber of the Court of Cassation has confirmed the acquittal
of the police officers accused of torturing Mehmet Desde but gave
no reason for it.
Amnesty International regards the final verdict against the eight
as evidence of a continuing pattern of unfair trial proceedings
which blights Turkey’s criminal justice system. The right
to a fair trial is enshrined in the European Convention for the
Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As a State Party to both
these conventions, Turkey has a legal obligation to uphold the right
to a fair trial for all those under Turkish jurisdiction.
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