Barred MP Candidate Gürbüz Arrested

İsa Gürbüz, independent candidate in support of the pro-Kurdish Labour, Democracy and Freedom Block for Elazığ (south-eastern Turkey) was arrested on charges of "membership of an illegal organization" on Thursday (30 June). Gürbüz had been barred from running in the parliamentary elections held on 12 June by the Supreme Election Board (YSK).

Gürbüz is the district chairman of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in Karakoçan. He was taken into police custody on 28 June. Gürbüz and the four people who where together with him when he was taken into police custody were interrogated at the Elazığ Anti-Terror Branch.

Three people were released after the interrogation. İsa Gürbüz and Sabri Acar were both arrested under the above mentioned allegations and taken to the Malatya E Type Prison.

"Accused of organizing activities for an illegal organization"

bianet talked to Sıddık Karagöz, the lawyer of detained Gürbüz. Karagöz said that they learned during the interrogation that an investigation had been launched in 2010.

According to the lawyer, all telephone conversations of Gürbüz and the other defendants have been wiretapped and recorded for a whole year. Additionally, pictures and videos of the defendants were taken secretly while they had been followed, Karagöz reported.

As the result of the surveillance of his client, Gürbüz's condolence visits to families of deceased members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and his attending of funeral ceremonies, press releases and demonstrations was eventually evaluated in the scope of "membership of an illegal organization", the lawyer said.

Karagöz continued, "Violence was not the subject of any of the telephone conversations. When there was a press release for instance, İsa Gürbüz as the BDP Karakoçan District Chair would call party members to tell them about the place and date of the press release or of a demonstration. Additionally, they stated that he paid condolence visits to families of killed PKK members and attended their funerals. On this basis, the police units accuse Gürbüz of organizing activities of an illegal organization". (EKN/VK)