Mustafa Ünal (50), a jailed veteran journalist and former Ankara bureau chief for the shuttered Zaman daily, has urged the judges in his trial to comply with the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Turkey’s Constitutional Court (AYM), saying, “My screams for justice have faded away in a bottomless pit.”
Ünal, who was arrested after a military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 and has been held in Silivri Prison in İstanbul for 615 days, defended himself in the April 5 hearing of a trial concerning Zaman in which there are 31 defendants. Stating that “the state is dying due to injustice,” Ünal underlined before the court that he was being unfairly detained and told the panel of judges that “my scream for justice has faded away in a bottomless pit.”
Ünal faces a life sentence in a decision to be handed down by the court May 10-11. The Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) has obtained the full text of Ünal’s defense before the court. Ünal, who was a defendant in the same trial as prominent journalists and columnists Şahin Alpay, Mümtaz’er Türköne, Ahmet Turan Alkan and Orhan Kemal Cengiz, reminded the court of a decision rendered by the ECtHR regarding the abuse of Alpay’s rights.
“I have dozens of strong reasons for my release,” Ünal said, outlining the relevant articles of the Turkish Constitution, Turkish laws, practices of the Supreme Court of Appeals and the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the ECtHR.
“I call to your attention the decisions taken by the Constitutional Court for Şahin Alpay dated January 11 and March 16 and say that our situation is exactly the same. The Constitutional Court considered the arrest of a journalist by using his columns as evidence to be a violation of his right to freedom and security as well as to freedom of expression and freedom of the press. As the local court failed to comply with the verdict of the Constitutional Court, the high court again rendered the same decision. The two decisions are not for only one person. They are both verdicts and should be complied with by the lower courts.”
“Zühtü Arslan, the chief justice of the Constitutional Court, has personally and publicly announced this fact. Arslan stated that it was not possible for them to evaluate each and every application and that they would make similar decisions for members of the same profession. This was a clear message for you. Here is the Şahin Alpay decision, which is related to the journalists and writers Arslan mentioned, a precedent for all jailed journalists and writers, so it concerns me as well. Therefore, I should be released immediately. I remind you of Article 153 of the constitution,” said Ünal.
Ünal added: “Furthermore… The ECtHR ruled on March 20 to condemn Turkey over the arrest of Şahin Alpay. The European court took the decision of the Constitutional Court one step further. It didn’t consider only the detention to be a violation of rights; it also ruled that freedom of expression was violated. And the ECtHR declared that the state of emergency [OHAL] regime could not be a reason to limit freedom of expression. You cannot be unaware that the ECtHR judgments are not in personam and that they constitute a legal standard and criterion. According to the rulings of the ECtHR and the Constitutional Court, newspaper columns cannot be evidence for either an arrest or a conviction since they are within the scope of freedom of thought and expression. Full stop. The Constitutional Court and the ECtHR have invalidated this case. You are aware of this, too. The ultimate point about this file is the ECtHR. The ECtHR has already given its decision. Taking this decision into consideration would be good for both Turkey and your career as a judge. I must be released according to the decisions given by the Constitutional Court and the ECtHR.”
At the beginning of his defense Ünal stated that “what I’m about to say in a little while is a rebellion against injustice, unlawfulness and unfairness and the scream for justice of a prisoner who has been detained for 610 days.”
“I am disappointed and angry with the state and the judiciary. You have been unable to distinguish between right and wrong for 610 days. You couldn’t see my innocence. You couldn’t dispense justice. You crucified innocence. And you made my life unendurable. It means that alarm bells are ringing for the state in a country where the judiciary is unable to distinguish between guilt and innocence, right and wrong. My harsh words are the reflection of this alarm,” added Ünal.
Stating that he has been imprisoned for 610 days as a journalist who took nothing other than a pen in his hand, Ünal continued his defense. “I came face to face with unending injustice, unfairness and persecution in my small cell where I have been subjected to a maddening lockdown. Even the tiny garden was a cage. A patch of sky is now behind the iron bars. There is nobody to whom I can express my innocence, make my voice and scream for justice heard. I have written at least three petitions every month with a plea for my release. My scream for justice has faded away in an unseen and bottomless pit. The world is silent.”
