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- Czech
court convicts Kurd of German nationality of crimes not committed
- After
an almost 13-year-ordeal he will fight for his name to be cleared
- Sissy
Danninger
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- The
verdict and sentence came as a shock to the accused, his family and his
friends - among them the Czech Helsinki Committee, the Charter 77
Foundation, Action Courage, Amnesty International, the Czech PEN Club
and, last but not least, former President Vaclav Havel.
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- On
March 29th, 2007 the Prague 4 regional court convicted Dr.
Yekta Uzunoglu (54), Turkish Kurd by origin, Czech resident since the
1970ies and German national since the mid-1990ies to two years in prison
suspended for five years. He was pronounced guilty of crimes, which he
never committed - as even the alleged victim now publicly asserted in
court.
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- To
the physician, human rights activist and author as well as to his
supporters the obvious miscarriage of justice in the young Czech
Republic is intentional and not restricted to the single
“Uzunoglu-case”. To them it is symptomatic for a legacy of the old
communist systems of the police and the judiciary, which have not been
overcome still.
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- Uzunoglu
is determined to continue his legal fight not only to clear his name and
have his guiltlessness established but also to contribute to the
re-establishment of public trust into the executive system and justice
of his second home country. If necessary he will take his case even to
the European Court of Justice, he affirms.
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- His
Kafkaesque ordeal started in 1994 in the
field of competition for Czech foreign investments abroad. Active as a
businessman in those days he was asked by the Czech Skoda Company to
help in negotiations for the construction of a hydroelectric power plant
in Turkey. He was successful, yet, shortly before the breakthrough a
threat came from a member of the competing Skoda-Export Company.
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- Uzunoglu
disregarded it and continued until he was arrested on September 13th,
1994 and charged with no less than “torture, limitation of personal
freedom, conspiracy to murder, robbery, fraud and possessing arms
without a licence”, as Amnesty International (ai) reports in a
“Public Statement” issued in London on March 28th, 2007,
just the day before the verdict. He had to remain in custody for more
than two and a half years until March 12th, 1997. “Details
of any investigations” into Uzunoglu’s own allegations of torture
and ill-treatment during that period are also still being asked for by
ai.
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- While
he was remanded in custody still the former volunteer with ai-Germany
and “Médecins sans Frontières” was granted German citizenship. The
corresponding documents were delivered to him in his Czech prison. By
and by most of the charges against him were dropped for lack of evidence
until shortly after his release. However those for torture and
limitation of personal freedom remained in force. Because Uzunoglu
wanted to become acquitted of those as well he did not leave the Czech
Republic for Germany but stayed.
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- His
resolve not to leave the Czech Republic was not even shaken by an
attempt to transfer him and the proceedings to Turkey in January 2003
via the Czech Ministry of Justice - to the very country he had fled
because of prosecution for his humanitarian work for Kurds in the early
1970ies. The manoeuvre failed: The Turkish authorities just seized
Uzunoglu’s passport and did not let him enter the country, an open
letter, titled “We accuse” and issued in March 2006 by his friends,
recounts. 240 persons have signed it up to now, among them Vaclav Havel,
Jelena Bonner, Karel Schwarzenberg and many other concerned Czech
citizens.
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- In
Prague the main court hearing on Uzunoglu’s appeal finally began on
June 25th, 2004 as ai reports. The procedures were
considerably delayed again, because the alleged torture victim - Göksel
Otan, a Turk who had been working with the secret police in the
communist era according to Czech media reports - did not appear in court
repeatedly. Anyway, at the beginning of October 2006 he retracted his
original testimony saying Uzunoglu did not abduct or torture him and had
not even been present during the act of torture.
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- The
final court hearings started on March 27th, 2007. Two days
later Judge Viteslav Rasik found Yekta Uzunoglu guilty.
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- The
Czech friends and supporters of Dr.Yekta Uzunoglu feel deeply
discouraged, because all their efforts in this fight for justice, hunger
strikes included, have been in vain. Therefore they ask for help and
support for their cause on an international basis now. Assistance is
possible by publishing this information, forwarding it to friends,
trying to contact the Czech elites in politics and the judiciary through
official or informal channels …
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- Prague,
Vienna, in May 2007
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- Sissy
Danninger
- Freelance
- Vienna
- danninger2@hotmail.com
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- +++
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- For
further information please contact:
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- Prof.
Dr. František Janouch, President, Charter 77 Foundation
- janouch@telia.com
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- Dr.
Yekta Uzunoglu
- info@uzunoglu.info
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