Political prisoners are retried based on anonymous witnesses

The AKP-MHP government has introduced a new practice in prisons. Political prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment are being retried.

Mahsum Bilen, Vezir Kaya, Nevzat Çapkın and Sedat Akgül, jailed in Beşikdüzü Prison, are being retried on charges of “being a leading member of a terrorist organization and providing organizational training in the prison”. Mahsum Bilen and Vezir Kaya attended a hearing held at the Trabzon 2nd High Criminal Court.

Both Bilen and Kaya were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1993 by the State Security Court and were sued on the same charge in 2019.

Although the prosecutor demanded that the political prisoners be sentenced to 6 months in prison, the court denied an acquittal on the grounds that there was not enough evidence.

Ekin Yeter, the lawyer of Mahsum Bilmez and Vezir Kaya, said that it is not legal to file a lawsuit based on the statement of an anonymous witness. Yeter stated that the retrial of political prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment for alleged “membership in a terrorist organization” is a difficult situation to explain. “My clients have already been in prison for 28 years on charges of membership. The secret witness claimed that they represented “the prison structure of the organization”. Based on this statement alone, a lawsuit has been filed against them for the second time. State authorities aim to re-punish those who have already been sentenced to life imprisonment based on the statements of anonymous witnesses. These people have been persecuted for months and it could also negatively impact their current execution. There is no concrete evidence. It seems that a policy has been introduced to put pressure on political prisoners.”