Ankara Police Reportedly Picks 800 Gezi Suspects

Ankara Prosecutor’s Office merged six prosecutions within the violation of “public gatherings and prosecutions law” where 137 suspects have been charged with “public property damage” and “resisting to police officers”. 

According to various news sources, Ankara Police Headquarters have formed a special unit that will analyze all surveillance footage and detect “suspects” within the Gezi Resistance investigation. Some sources claimed that the toll of “suspects” have already exceeded 800. 

Korkut: Mass prosecutions violated human rights 

An assistant professor, former Amnesty International Turkey Chair and Wise People Delegate in Marmara Region, Levent Korkut told bianet that launching prosecution on several people for the same charges under one file would mean to charge them as an organization before the very trial.  

“We need to keep a close eye on mass prosecutions. We need to ask the question whether mass prosecutions is possible in democratic states. This is a practice from military junta era.

“In this case, mass prosecutions means that they assume there is an organization behind everything. However, this is only about people attending a demonstration. If there is any crime involved in protestors’ actions, they must processed on ad hoc basis. 

“The indictment is also very important here. In Turkey, only 40 percent of indictments drafted by prosecutors come up with a judgment. The remaining 60 percent ends with an acquittal. And this results in long arrest periods and human rights violations."

Korkut also added that such practices caused human rights violations which are resolved in Constitutional Court or ECHR - a situation that would affect the prestige of Turkey negatively. (EA/BM) 

* Click here to read the original article in Turkish.