Journalists Necla Demir, Rahime Karvar, Ahmet Güneş, Welat Ekin, Reyhan Hacıoğlu and Vedat Örüç, who were detained in house raids on 17 January as part of an Istanbul-based investigation, were arrested by the court yesterday on the allegation of "being an illegal organization member". The arrest of the journalists, who were referred for arrest without taking their statements by the prosecutor's office, was justified on the grounds of the programmes and news they had made within the scope of their professional activities. 

 

 

Elif Taşdöğen, member of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), spoke about the arrest of journalists, the attitude of the court and the file.

 

Lawyer Elif Taşdöğen, who took part in the interrogation of journalist Rahime Karvar, reminded that her client, who did not give a statement at the police station, was referred to the judgeship without being taken to the prosecutor's office. Elif Taşdöğen pointed out that the decision to arrest the journalists was made in advance and said, "There was no defence case. The fact that the criminal judge made this discourse with the client before the law enforcement and prosecutor's statements were taken shows the stage the law has reached.  It is an indication that the judgement was prepared in advance or that it was a pre-determined decision. It is also an indication that the defence was not taken into consideration. In order to understand the charge of 'membership of an illegal organization', you normally need to ask questions. But the judge did not even pay attention to it."

 

Stating that the client defended her professional activities in her statement to the judge, Elif Taşdöğen said, "The client underlined that her news reports were within the scope of freedom of expression and that she is a feminist. She also underlined that she had covered the issues that were on the agenda of Turkey and the world as a journalist. The client said, 'I do not regret any of the news I did. I did what I had to do as a journalist. I would do it again'."

 

MA / Ömer İbrahimoğlu