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The Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) has filed a criminal complaint against personnel from the Directorate of Religious Affairs and law enforcement officials who seized and returned the equipment of three Greek journalists who had come to Turkey to report on the February 6th earthquakes in Maraş. The equipment was returned in a dismantled state.

MLSA, which represents the journalists Kyriakos Finas, Victoras Antonopoulos, and Konstantinos Zilos, submitted the complaint to the Hatay Chief Public Prosecutor's Office yesterday (April 17).

The incident

According to the complaint, the journalists were warned not to film by personnel from the Directorate of Religious Affairs and soldiers near the mass burial sites in the Narlıca neighborhood of the Antakya district on February 16. The journalists were then held there, and their equipment was confiscated. The equipment was returned to them in a dismantled state the next day.

The complaint also lists the crimes allegedly committed by gendarmes, police officers and chiefs, religious affairs officials.

The charges

The lawyers pointed out that the journalists were taken to the police station without an official detention order, therefore the law enforcement officials committed the offense of "deprivation of liberty" as stipulated in Article 109 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

Furthermore, the lawyers stated that the intervention against the journalists' work violated "freedom of profession and labor" as stipulated in Articles 117 and 119 of the TCK.

The lawyers also argued that the confiscation and dismantling of the journalists' equipment, despite their clear efforts to comply and cooperate during the intervention, constituted the offenses of "misconduct in office" (TCK 257), "damage to property" (TCK 151), and "theft" (TCK 141).

MLSA Co-Director and lawyer Veysel Ok commented on the incident, stating, "We have asked the prosecutor's office to identify the individuals responsible for this. We expect them to be tried and punished in the most severe way.

"This is important not only for freedom of expression but also for ensuring that public officials do not exceed their authority during extraordinary situations such as earthquakes and elections."

On February 6, two earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.7 and 7.6 struck the southern city of Maraş. The first quake in the Pazarcık district at 4.17 a.m. was followed by the second one in Elbistan about nine hours later.

The quakes affected 11 cities in Türkiye's south and southeast, as well as Syria's northern parts, where over 5,000 people have died. Turkey's death toll from the quakes stands at over 50 thousand and is expected to increase further, as over 227,000 buildings were destroyed or severely damaged, according to government figures. (HA/VK)