Under house arrest for a year: No indictment, but a confidentiality order

* Photo: Archive - AA

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Sinan Nazlı and Rıdvan Abravci were sentenced to house arrest over writings on a wall about the appointment of trustees to the Peoples' Democratic Party's (HDP) Metropolitan Municipalities of Van, Mardin and Diyarbakır on August 19, 2019. It has been a year, but there has yet been no indictment against them and there is a confidentiality order on their file.

Detained over a writing painted on a wall near his house on August 20, 2019, Abravci was held in detention for four days. As for Nazlı, he went to depose himself after learning that there was a warrant against him.

Referred to court to be arrested without their depositions taken, they were both placed in house arrest over a picture taken while they were going home.

As reported by daily Yeni Yaşam, as there is a confidentiality order on the file that still does not have an indictment, even the attorneys cannot access it. The petitions submitted by them are rejected one by one.

Abravci: We have seen no indictment or court

"There were apparently two slogans about trustees two-three streets away from my home. When I was detained, I was told that it was because of this," says Abravci, adding, "There was this picture... We said that we were going home, we told them where we were coming from. In fact, everything was obvious. They closed the subject by ruling for a house arrest."

Sharing details about the judicial process before their arrest, Abravci says, "We did not even see the face of the prosecutor," who normally takes depositions of suspects before releasing or referring them to court.

"When we entered the room, we were referred with a request for our arrest. The judge showed us a picture with us walking on the road and said, 'Okay'. Afterwards, we have seen neither an indictment nor the court.

"We submitted petitions, both personally and through our attorneys. They were first rejected on familiar grounds. I was detained a couple of times before. They also cite it as a justification."

'A severe process, both materially and morally'

Speaking about their imprisonment, Sinan Nazlı also says, "We have been in house arrest for over a year now. The reason is that we walked past a wall with a slogan written on it.

"Family problems, financial problems... What we have gone through in this period is beyond description. My family lives in Van. I am staying at the house of a friend. I can hold up thanks to the support of friends.

"It is a policy of intimidation. It is nothing other than that. It is nothing but saying, 'Let's have these people in our hands'.

'Even going to hospital is a problem'

"House arrest is so hard... It is really difficult, because... Just imagine: There is this tiny place, I move from one room to another for a year. There is no family, no friends, no socialization, there is already no work.

"For instance, I have a stomach problem. I cannot live in closed spaces. I deal with lots of problems even to go to hospital.

'I went to depose myself'

"They reject our petitions, saying flight risk and evidence. We already live here, where are we supposed to flee? They took Rıdvan in a house raid.

"I did not have a residential address. They raided the house of a friend, thinking that I was staying there. My friend called me. We talked to the attorney and went to depose. I mean, I went there myself because there was nothing. He literally looked at a picture and said, 'Okay'.

"We do not have anything to do with the writing on the wall. We hold no spray or paint. We do not even walk past the wall. We are on one street, the wall is on another. We are seen to be only walking on that street.

"I was looking after my family, I work in construction here. They can give us judicial control measures, too. We can at least work and make a living."

Attorney: Even we cannot access the file

Erdal Ulusoy, the attorney of the file, says that "the petitions are rejected with copy-paste remarks," adding briefly the following:

"There is no indictment and, as they imposed a confidentiality order on the file, we cannot access it as attorneys. It has been almost a year now. There is a serious right violation. Abstract expressions are used. We went there at least fifty times, but it is such that we can do nothing about it.

"The prosecutor of the case has recently changed as well. We have not yet met the new prosecutor. I had other clients sentenced to house arrest in investigations conducted by the same prosecutor, they also remained in house arrest for three-four months. But there has yet been no progress in this file, there is serious aggrievement." (TP/SD)