Letter from Barış Pehlivan to Minister Tunç: 'Which gang should I join and how much money do I need to save?'

Journalist Barış Pehlivan had to return to prison after his hearing yesterday was postponed on the grounds that the judge had not read the defense, despite him having received permission to attend from prison. Pehlivan wrote an open letter to Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç.

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Letter from Barış Pehlivan to Minister Tunç: 'Which gang should I join and how much money do I need to save?'

Journalist Barış Pehlivan had to return to prison after his hearing yesterday was postponed on the grounds that the judge had not read the defense.

Writing an open letter to Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç via his X account, Pehlivan stated the following:

"WHAT CAN I DO, IT'S MY NATURE"

"Dear Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç,

This is my second letter to you. I wrote to you from prison before, and now I am writing it while packing my prison bag. I will be setting off for Maltepe Open Prison shortly.

Do you know, my little daughter lives in Italy, and thanks to her, I have a residence permit in Europe. While I could go to any country I wish in Europe right now, I choose to go to prison to be able to practice journalism in these lands. It might seem foolish to you, but what can I do, it's my nature!

Dear Minister,

"THEY USE SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTIVELY"

You know UYAP, your system... I use it too to follow the dozens of cases filed against me, and I find it very useful. However, I learned at my hearing yesterday that there are prosecutors and judges who do not use this system.

Please do not interrupt me by saying “independent judiciary”; you are also the head of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors. In other words, the issue concerns you personally as well. Frankly, I could have written these lines to the opposition party representatives who get much better engagement with their changing tweets, but as far as I understand, they are very busy. Never mind, they use social media effectively, they will read it too... Anyway, let me not digress.

Now, Mr. Minister...

"HE DID NOT ANNOUNCE THE VERDICT"

I was talking about judicial members, UYAP, etc... I had a hearing yesterday. You know, the hearing for the “insult” case that caused my probation rights to be revoked and sent me to prison even though no verdict had been reached against me...

No, I will not make an issue of the hearing starting 3 hours late. Unfortunately, my standards are no longer that high. My issue is something else. Because the defenses were taken, the prosecutor gave their opinion on the merits at the hearing (demanding my punishment without even presenting a justification, of course), the final words were spoken... But do you know what happened?

The judge did not announce his verdict because he had not read the documents that had been in the case file, i.e., on UYAP, for 8 months (we had submitted them along with my statement dated February 24, 2023)!

"I WILL NOT REMIND YOU OF THE TEMPORARY ARTICLE"

Yes, you read that right, because he claimed he had not read the case file... Naturally, this strange situation caused me to pack my prison bag again.

No, I will not go into the oddity of the judge's question, “I don't understand what this case has to do with being in jail.”

I will not remind you of the rejection of my lawyers' petition months ago, which stated, “If you move this hearing date forward, the possibility of Barış Pehlivan regaining his freedom could be sooner.”

No, I will not remind you of the law that passed through Parliament last summer, which increased the probation rights even for rapists and allowed them to regain their freedom in no time (I am referring to the 2nd paragraph of temporary article 10, which you withheld from me despite my right to benefit from it; you might remember it from there).

"UNFORTUNATELY, I DO NOT THINK THE JUDGE WILL MAKE A FAIR DECISION"

I asked in my previous letter, and I will repeat it:

As someone who has been deprived of my freedom because of a case in which I do not have even a gram of guilt, which gang should I join and how much money do I need to save? Excuse me, if I am entering prison again today because the judge has not read the case file for months, I have to ask this question.

Now I have another hearing in 6 days. Unfortunately, I do not think the judge will make a fair decision in this case, where the prosecutor is demanding my imprisonment despite all the evidence in my favor.

Anyway, I have gone on too long.

Let me go and see off the serious criminals in prison to 6 years of probation...

This too shall pass!"

Dear Minister of Justice @yilmaztunc,
This is my second letter to you. I wrote to you from prison before, and now I am writing it while packing my prison bag. I will be setting off for Maltepe Open Prison shortly.
Do you know, my little daughter lives in Italy, and thanks to her…
— Barış Pehlivan (@barispehlivan) November 10, 2023