Police Arrest High School Student Without Any Evidence

Law enforcement officials took 15 year old high school student B.B. under custody on Sept. 17 for participating in a demonstration involving the use of molotov cocktails in Istanbul's Kurtuluş district. A phone conversation that took place between his cousins and the fact that his cell phone was turned off at the time of the demonstration on Aug. 18 constitute the only "evidence" they have been able muster against him, however.

The documents presented by the police to court claim that members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its alleged urban wing the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) are directed to refrain from carrying their phones over them during demonstrations to avoid being tracked down by law enforcement officials.

Nonetheless, there are no photographs, footages or recorded phone records either in the court's official search warrant or in the records of his interrogation by the prosecutor which indicate that B.B. had participated in the demonstration.

Police arrested B.B. during a raid into his home, and the only items they have seized are the sim card of his cell phone and an SD memory card. The police did not encounter any criminal elements in that memory card either, according to reports.

Officials have also referred to a phone conversation between B.B.'s two cousins, one of whom said he was going to call B.B. for dinner and asked about his whereabouts while B.B.'s other cousin replied he must have returned home.

In a further twist of events, anti-terror police have also claimed that the word "home" in that conversation is actually a codeword for "demonstration."

B.B. was formally arrested on Sept. 19, two days after his detention, by the Istanbul 10th Criminal Court of Peace on the charge of being a member of the youth Democratic Patriotic Youth (DYG,) which they say is the youth branch of the PKK/KCK.

Two other minors under the age of 18 were also arrested alongside with B.B.

B.B. has remained under arrest at the Maltepe Juvenile Closed Prison for about 10 days, while officials have also turned down an objection to his arrest.

Attacked by their neighbors

Meanwhile, B.B.'s family was also attacked by their neighbors following the incident.

B.B.'s father Hüseyin told bianet that the police had arrived in their home at 05:00 in the morning and took his son away.

"I had just come out of my house to go to work right afterwards, and five neighbors from the same apartment building attacked my spouse and her sister who had come for a visit, telling us that we had brought the police over here and that we were the PKK," he said.

Hüseyin B. subsequently called the police for help, but the officers merely told their neighbors not to do it again and took off.

Hüseyin B., a father of five, is making ends meet by selling water. His son also used to help him in his spare time.

The family is originally from the southeastern province of Mardin which has a large concentration of Kurds.

"My son has been arrested without any reason," Hüseyin B. said while he was off to visit him in prison. (AS)