University student taken to COVID-19 polyclinic for medical examination in detention

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University student Ceren Çoban was wounded in the bomb attack that claimed the lives of 33 people in Suruç, Urfa on July 20, 2015. She survived the massacre, but an investigation has been launched against her due to her remarks in a petition that she submitted to the court hearing the Suruç case.

When she went to depose as part of this investigation, it was understood that there was a warrant for her detention in relation with a protest that she attended when she was a student at the Sociology Department of Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara. Çoban was taken into custody.

Speaking to bianet about the issue, Çoban says that when she was in custody, she was taken to a polyclinic at the Kartal Lütfi Kırdar Training and Research Hospital in the Anatolian side of İstanbul for her routine medical examination. However, the patients who tested positive for COVID-19 were treated at the polyclinic, which made her quite nervous.

23-year-old Ceren Çoban, who is a student at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University (MSGSÜ) Department of Cinema and Television, was released after deposing at the İstanbul Anatolian Courthouse in Kartal.

Investigation into petition submitted to court

Ceren Çoban was among the people wounded in Suruç Massacre in southeastern Urfa province on July 20, 2015. The lawsuit into the massacre started at the Urfa 5th Heavy Penal Court in Hilvan on May 4, 2017.

Çoban was the then Co-Chair of the Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF) and an investigation has been launched against her due to her petition that she read out to intervene in the case.

Last morning (June 17), when she went to the Security Directorate to depose as part of this investigation, it was understood that there was a warrant issued for her detention. She was taken into custody after that.

The warrant in question was issued in relation with a protest that was staged against cutting of trees at METU campus in Ankara to build a state dormitory. Çoban was a student there last year.

Like several other students detained on that day, Çoban was charged with "resisting the police." Taken into custody as per the warrant of the Ankara 8th Penal Court of Peace, Çoban was released after her deposition.

In her deposition at the courthouse, Çoban said that she had nothing to do with the breaking of the barriers and, if the camera footage was examined, it could be seen that it was her who was battered and dragged on the ground.

In her deposition about the investigation about Suruç, she said that she read out the petition that they had submitted to the court and, reiterating what she said in the petition, she noted that power holders had responsibility towards citizens and were obligated to safeguard right to life.

"I do not think that my sentences in the petition constitute a crime. On the contrary, I believe that it needs to be evaluated as the cry of a young person who went through such a massacre at the age of 18," she said. (AS/SD)