1. New hope arises for ‘stone throwing children’ in Turkey
Minors being tried at the C
ourt for Serious of Crimes for terrorism-related offenses continue to attract attention due to receiving sentences longer than their actual ages. Now, the Justice Ministry is planning to bring a new draft law to Parliament in an effort to solve the problem after discussion on a previous bill was overshadowed by worries it would benefit Abdullah Öcalan
New hope has emerged for children detained on terrorism charges for throwing stones at security forces as Turkey’s ruling party prepares to redraft a bill to overhaul the relevant anti-terror law.
Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin is preparing to present a new draft law to Parliament that would amend certain clauses in the anti-terror law that negatively affect children. Now, all minors suspected of terror crimes will be tried in juvenile courts regardless of their age.
In addition to containing an article on retrials, the proposed changes aim to commute prison sentences into fines while also encouraging the minors to pursue vocational courses or other activities that would benefit society.
Justice and Development Party, or AKP deputy, Zafer Üskül, who also heads Parliament’s human rights commission, said, “The law draft will be handled by Parliament within the month according to my impression.”
The draft was to be discussed by Parliament on Dec. 10 but the process was halted because of civil unrest in eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey in which minors also participated.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an delayed the bill’s discussion while the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, objected to the motion as well, saying that the retrial article could also apply to Abdullah Öcalan, the convicted leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The AKP administration, however, stated an Öcalan trial was out of the question.
Although Ergin and Üskül wanted to discuss the draft as soon as possible, others within the AKP claim the timing is wrong because of the recent civil unrest. Erdo?an, meanwhile, said he wanted to see a detailed report within the month, adding that a distinction must be made between children who throw Molotov cocktails at security services and those who only throw stones.
Because of the recent parliamentary debates, it is likely that the article on retrials will be excluded from the draft although many in the AKP favor drafting a completely new bill to avoid possible opposition claims arguing that “Öcalan will be pardoned.”
A platform demanding justice for the children said the main problem centered on the fact that stone-throwing minors are treated as members of terrorist organizations by the legal system. They said the draft was a positive step but that the bill was insufficient.
Meanwhile, another child was recently sentenced to five years in prison for throwing stones at police during an October protest in ??rnak’s Cizre district to mark the anniversary of Öcalan’s expulsion from Syria.
The child, 14, was only identified as C.E., was also tried on charges of participating in an illegal demonstration.
In his defense, C.E. saim he was on his way to open the shop in which he worked and that he had covered his mouth with a sweater to avoid the pepper gas. Despite not being a member, the court found him guilty of committing crimes in the name of the PKK, making propaganda for the illegal organization and participating in an illegal demonstration.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Göksel Bozkurt
Ankara: Hürriyet Daily News Parliament Bureau
2. Children acquitted in terror case
Eight children in Diyarbak?r are acquitted in a case dealing with clashes between police and pro-Kurdish demonstrators in 2006, while other minors will go on to be sentenced to many years in prison for throwing stones at police in different pro-Kurdish clashes. The local court says it considered the acquitted minors as ‘children pushed to commit crimes,’ rather than suspects
A local court in the southeastern province of Diyarbak?r has acquitted eight children who had allegedly participated in demonstrations and clashes in the city that led to the death of 10 people.
Similar to many children who are accused of throwing stones at police during pro-Kurdish demonstrations in southeastern Anatolia, these eight minors were accused of several crimes, including committing a crime in the name of a terrorist organization, damaging property and making propaganda for a terror organization, daily Sabah reported Friday in an exclusive story.
However, while many of their peers have been put in jail for many years for throwing stones at police in demonstrations, the Diyarbak?r court said it considered these eight minors as “children who were pushed to commit crimes.” The court used that phrase in its verdict instead of calling the children “suspects” or “defendants.”
The events in Diyarbak?r started March 28, 2006, after the bodies of four members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, were brought to the city. Clashes with police lasted for four days, damaging police stations, state buildings and banks and taking the lives of 10 people, including five children. Many of the casualties were due to shooting injuries. Hundreds of people were taken into custody as a result of these events.
The eight recently acquitted children are between the ages of 12 and 15; the prosecutor had demanded 30 years in prison for each of them.
The court concluded that there was no other evidence about which protest they participated in and how, other than the police minutes, which did not include any information about how the children were arrested. Children between the ages of 12 and 15 are not able to understand what crime means; they did their action at the direction and provocation of adults, the court said, explaining why it regarded the children as “pushed to commit crime.”
The court also concluded that the eight children have the right to open a case for reparations as they were kept under custody for four days after their arrest. The new Law to Protect Children also identifies minors who commit crimes as “children who were pushed to commit crime.”
Police-trap allegation
Meanwhile, a convicted child in Batman, who had been accused of throwing stones at police, alleged that police had forced her to wear a pu?i, the traditional scarf of the region, to cover her face and then took photos of her so garbed that were used against her in court. The 15-year-old girl, identified only as B.S., was convicted to 13 years in prison.
In a small note that she gave to her mother when she visited her in prison, the girl said that she was so scared that she could not tell the truth, daily Taraf reported Friday. Police had threatened her and told her to admit everything, she said.
After taking the note, the girl’s mother applied to the Human Rights Association’s Diyarbak?r branch for legal help.
Friday, February 5, 2010
ISTANBUL – Daily News with wires
3. Number of juvenile trials on the rise
A recent study by Diyarbak?r’s Bar Association revealed that more juveniles are now being tried and sentenced under new serious crimes courts than they were under former adult courts.
Between 1984 and 1997, 2,601 children between the ages of 11 and 17 were tried in the southeastern province by the former State Security Courts, or DGMs, for crimes related to links with outlawed organizations, carrying out armed attacks, aiding and abetting crime rings and attending illegal demonstrations. Of this figure, 624 children were sentenced to prison.
The DGMs were closed in 2004 and replaced by specially authorized Courts for Serious Crimes that also handled children’s trials. In the first four years of their existence, however, the new courts opened cases against 2,400 juveniles, sentencing 175 children to prison for terror-related offenses.
Sezgin Tanr?kulu, former head of the bar association, drew attention to the rise in the number of juveniles who were tried by the courts.
“Children from the 1990s started growing up in the middle of the 2000s. They turned 14 or 15 and you could find them everywhere. Not only are they in the mountains but also in the streets. The number of juveniles being tried rose because the 1990s generation has hit the street with their own perceptions,” he said.
“Another reason for the rise is that there is a change in the judicial mentality. The 1990s generation of children has faced with the 1990s generation of judges. The 1990s generation studied at high schools and universities during an era when discrimination was based on ethnic roots,” he said.
Tanr?kulu also said judiciaries, prosecutors and police forces were more tolerant and understanding toward juveniles when they were tried by the DGMs.
“Today, judges are more punitive because they were given a vast authority to make decisions under changes to the Turkish Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure made in 2005 and the terror law that was changed in 2007,” he said.
According to a recent report by Justice for Children, a local nongovernmental association established by human right activists, 78 juveniles were sentenced to a total of 175 years in prison in Diyarbakir in the last two years.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
FER?T ASLAN
D?YARBAKIR – Radikal