Quest For Justice
According to Amnesty International, Yekta was arrested in September 1994 based on charges of abduction and torture laid by Göksel Otan, a Turkish citizen living in the Czech Republic. Amnesty International stated that they believe the accuser to have been working as a police agent. However, statements of several Czech witnesses and representatives of a pharmaceutical company contradict the timing of the alleged charges. In 1996, the Czech Minister of Interior, Jan Ruml, admitted that Yekta had been abused by the police. The charges of conspiracy to murder and economic fraud were withdrawn in April 1995 and June 1998, respectively. He was released on 12 March 1997 after 31 months in custody.
Yekta was granted German citizenship while imprisoned, he chose to stay in the Czech Republic in order to clear his name. He appealed a decision to close down his case in September 2003. The court hearing began on 25 June 2004 but the process was delayed until August 2006. On 5 and 6 October 2006, the accuser (Göksel Otan), retracted his original testimony and declared that Yekta Uzunoglu did not torture him.
During the trial, Yekta Uzunoglu received support from various organizations such as The Czech Helsinki Committee (CHC), The Charta 77 Foundation. Amnesty International has urged the Czech authorities to investigate the violations of Yekta's rights during the trial and to review this case in order to identify the flaw in the Czech criminal justice system.
Several renowned Czech figures including former president Václav Havel and actor Zdenek Sverak have expressed support for Uzunoglu's quest to clear his name.
Read more about this topic: Yekta Uzunoglu
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