ISTANBUL - While Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said: “Everyone can freely express their thoughts”, the arrest of young people detained after the September 1 rally in Istanbul for a banner they unfurled drew attention.
Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç said yesterday that street interviews are not banned in the country and that “everyone can freely express their thoughts”. However, 12 young people were first detained and then arrested for a banner they unfurled at the September 1 World Peace Rally in Istanbul.
12 young people were detained after the rally organized by Istanbul Labor, Peace and Democracy Forces in Kadıköy. The detention of the youth was justified on the grounds that they were dancing halay to Kurdish songs and they had unfurled a banner saying “Interlocutor İmralı, solution democratic Turkey, Autonomous Kurdistan”.
The youth were taken to the Provincial Security Directorate in Fatih, where they were kept for a night without food and water. On September 2, the youth were transferred to the Anadolu Courthouse in Kartal. They were kept waiting for a long time for statement procedures and their lawyers wanted to give them food and water. However, the police did not allow this.
PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE TRANSFERRED THEM WITHOUT TAKING THEIR STATEMENTS
The youth were kept waiting for a long time without food and water and were referred to Istanbul Anatolian 6th Criminal Judgeship of Peace for “making illegal organization propaganda” before their statements were taken by the prosecutor's office. The judge issued an arrest warrant for the 12 youth on the allegation of “making propaganda for an illegal organization”. Moreover, the judge did not read the reasoned verdict to the lawyers' faces, but informed them with a report. The youth and lawyers reacted against this practice. The youth were then sent to Maltepe Type L Closed Prison No 1.
'INTERLOCUTOR I·MRALI' BANNER CHARGED
The justification for the arrest of 12 young people was that the police had warned the youth to disperse. The justified verdict claimed that during the press statement, the young people sang songs that were “considered as illegal organization propaganda” and danced halay. It was also claimed that the youth unfurled the banner “Interlocutor İmralı, solution democratic Turkey, Autonomous Kurdistan” and that the banner was “illegal”. The use of halay and a banner as evidence in the minutes drew attention.
In the decision, it was argued that the arrest warrant was proportionate, considering “the incomplete collection of evidence, the suspicion of evidence tampering, the suspicion of escape, the current state of evidence and the upper limit of the prison sentence”.
MA / Ömer İbrahimoğlu