Turkey: CFWIJ Calls For The Release Of Kurdish Journalist Hatice Duman
Location: Turkey, Istanbul
Date: December 7, 2022
Journalist and editor-in-chief of the daily Atılım (The Leap), Hatice Duman, has been imprisoned since April 9, 2003. Duman has been serving almost 20 years in Bakırköy Women’s Prison in Istanbul. The journalist sees no light at the end of the tunnel for her unjust life-time sentence without parole. The Coalition For Women In Journalism stands in solidarity with Hatice Duman and calls on the High Court to release the journalist.
On December 9, the fourth hearing of Hatice Duman’s retrial was heard by the 12th Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes. The hearing lasted two-and-a-half hours, included several defendants and did not address any of the charges against Duman who attended by teleconference.
Hatice Duman began working as a reporter for the socialist weekly newspaper Atılım in 1996 and in 1997 she was promoted to the chief editor's desk.
Atilim was considered the official newspaper of the Marxist–Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) in Turkey.
Duman was detained on April 9, 2003 after a home raid under the pretext of managing a terrorist organization, spreading propaganda and being a member of the banned Marxist Leninist Communist Party. These accusations led to a 10 year trial and a life-time imprisonment sentence. Duman was targeted because Atılım had opposed administration policies.
Duman said of her situation: 'The state employed all its violence and repression to prevent us from perceiving, seeing and writing the truth. All the issues we published were confiscated, and we were prevented from following the news. Our cameras and recorders were broken. They seized our computers. They filed suits against the confiscated issues of our [newspaper. The suspects] received sentences up to hundreds of years in consequence of these trials."
Duman went on a hunger strike, used her right to remain silent, and denied all the accusations against her in the testimony she gave before the judge. The trial dragged on for almost 10 years. The sentence was handed out three months shy of 10 years, right before the statute of limitations would come into effect. Numerous reports labeled the trial as a "sham".
On October 16, 2012, Turkey's Ninth Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the life-time imprisonment sentence against Duman. The ratification of the sentence was described as "A blow on the freedom of press" and "politically motivated".
In 2015 the Constitutional Court, whose rulings are binding for all lower courts, ruled in favor of Duman and sent the case back for retrial. However, the local court in İstanbul ignored its order.
In late 2019, Turkey’s Constitutional Court decided that Duman's right to a fair trial had been violated and ordered a retrial, however, the local court still refuses to retry her.
“When I look at my trial as a whole, I see that my case has been stuck in a vicious cycle. The 18-year-long legal proceedings resemble a theater play. There was a decision given behind the scenes by those in power,” Duman said, referring to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. “When the curtain rises, this whole play of prosecution ends in that same decision. This is a summary of the legal system in our country,” Duman added.
Recently, Duman's prison cell was raided and many of her legal documents were confiscated. The journalist told the court that the prison raid had violated her right to prepare for her defense. The court denied her request to be released. The trial is still pending and Duman's next hearing is set for March 31.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism extends support to Hatice Duman and calls on all institutions which advocate for freedom of press, to react to this unfair trial. We urge the Supreme Court of Appeals in Turkey to repeal Duman's sentence and uphold the country’s democratic values.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
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