ANKARA - Bager Sayak, who was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment after being over-age, said that similar sentences were imposed on Seyid Rıza and Erdal Eren. "This is the modern version of execution" he said. 

 

Bager Sayak, who is being held in Sincan High Security Prison No 1, sent a letter to Mezopotamya Agency (MA) about his detention process. Sayak stated in his letter that his age was increased by a court decision and that he was unlawfully sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. Sayak also stated that although the court panel that sentenced him was dismissed due to FETÖ membership, the verdict did not change. 

 

Sayak stated the following in his letter: "I have been in prison since 2010. I was only 17 years old when I was detained and imprisoned. The state sentenced me to aggravated life imprisonment by raising my age. I have never harmed anyone. For example, I did not kill anyone. I didn't steal anyone's property. If I had done those things, I wouldn't be in jail anyway. 

 

JUSTICE MINISTER CONFESSED

 

First they filed a case against me as ‘a child when he committed the offence’ and asked for a penalty. They even said that I would be released from the prosecutor's office because I was a minor. Of course, if I had testified against people I did not know or if I had slandered people... Of course, I did not do what I was told to do. Therefore, I was treated with vengeance. My age was increased and I was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. Sadullah Ergin, the then Minister of Justice, while answering a parliamentary parliamentary question about me, made a confession by saying, ‘Yes, his age was raised’. This confession by the ministry did not change the fact that I was kept in prison. It reminded me of a dialogue I witnessed while testifying at the prosecutor's office. When the prosecutor asked me, ‘Are you a mountain cadre?’ I did not answer. Seeing my silence, the policeman there said, ‘Even if he is not a mountain cadre, he has the potential to be one. Who can deny that I have been kept in prison for years because of such a ‘potential’? The entire court panel that gave me a heavy sentence was later dismissed from FETÖ. Some of them were even imprisoned, but the sentence given to me was not overturned. Why? Because I was a ‘potential’ criminal in their eyes.

 

I have no criminal record. Like many criminals on the outside. If I did, I wouldn't be in prison anyway! Because in Turkey, the concepts of justice and law are reversed. A law of enmity is being implemented. There is constant talk of diversity and brotherhood. However, how can we be seen as equal in life when we are not even equal before the law? If we were equal, the real criminals and murderers would not be outside, and innocent people like us would not be kept in prison. This state, this law, which released a murderer by calling him a ‘child’, can give me a heavy sentence by raising my age. In fact, despotic power has always used the law as an apparatus to punish its opponents. 

 

The Turkish state has always used the law in this way. In the 1938 Dêrsim Rebellion, Seyid Rıza, one of the leaders of the revolt, was executed by lowering his age. In the 12 September fascist coup, it raised the age of the young revolutionary Erdal Eren and executed him. Today, it has raised my age and sentenced me to aggravated life imprisonment ‘until death’. This is the modern version of execution. Instead of ‘hanging’ you on the gallows, it wants you to rot in a solitary cell ‘until death’.

 

WHO IS BAGER SAYAK?

 

Bager Sayak, born on 25 August 1992, was 17 years old when he was arrested in Erzurum on 20 July 2010 on the allegation that he ‘left a bomb in front of the AKP provincial headquarters’. On 2 November 2011, Sayak appeared before the judge at Erzurum Special Authorised 4th High Criminal Court and his request to make his defence in Kurdish was rejected. The court sentenced Sayak to aggravated life imprisonment. 

 

The verdict was sent to the Court of Cassation for appeal. However, the 9th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation rejected the appeal on 9 March 2012 and upheld the sentence given to Sayak.

 

MA / Ömer Güngör