Yalcin Dogan, one of columnists of the Hurriyet daily, recalling that Borego Borego, a judge at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), had been acting as rapporteur in the case about retrial of Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the terrorist organization of PKK.
Noting that under the EU law, Turkey made a technical mistake during trial of Ocalan, Dogan said, ''the EU was opposed to the State Security Courts (DGMs) and military judges at DGMs. Ocalan was tried by a DGM delegation including a military judge. The coalition government of the Democratic Left Party (DSP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Motherland Party (ANAP) ignored all warnings during the trial. Upon application of Ocalan's lawyers, ECHR ruled that his right to fair trial was violated.''
''Trial at the DGM was not the only reason in ECHR's decision. For instance, Ocalan's lawyers were given only 15 days to prepare the defense for a 17-file indictment. Ocalan was not allowed to talk to his lawyers. Borego does not say in his report that Ocalan should be retried, but he proposes Turkey to reopen the file. This is a technical, but important point. Ocalan admitted his guilt, and ECHR recorded it. However, Ocalan noted that he was not granted the right to application during his trial process. This is true. Ocalan and 90 other people were not granted the right to application for retrial. This is a discrimination, and ECHR opposes it,'' he said.
Dogan kept on saying, ''now, Turkey has to grant this right with a legal amendment. Re-opening of the file includes granting Ocalan the right to application. After this, the file will be sent to Turkish jurisdiction, not to ECHR. This is not a retrial. Let's say that Ocalan uses his right, Turkish jurisdiction decides that there is no need for retrial, and the Supreme Court of Appeals approves it. In that case, the file can be sent to ECHR once again, with no avail. So, Ocalan's life imprisonment will continue and we will be able to correct our technical mistake.''