House of METU Student Raided Upon a Notice to Emergency Service Line

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Assoc. Prof. Öykü Didem Aydın, the lawyer of the students detained before the graduation ceremony of the Middle East Technical University (METU), has shared the details of the investigation with bianet.

Upon an informer's email that referred to six students by saying "These people were already troublemakers in previous years, precautions had better be taken," four METU students were detained in house raids at the night of June 30, two people could not be found at their houses.

CLICK - METU Students Detained Over an Informer's Email

Lawyer Aydın has stated that the students were taken into custody upon a notice submitted to the 155 Police Crime Line and Directorate General of Security website and continued as follows:

'It is a grave situation'

"In this notice, the names of six students from the METU LGBTIQ+ Solidarity were cited. The detention warrant was hurriedly issued before the METU graduation ceremony.

"The houses were raided at the night of June 30, some people were detained. However, we informed the Public Prosecutor's Office that one of my clients, who was not at home in the first detention attempt, will appeal to the office in person. We requested that the detention warrant be lifted.

"But, as if my client was a violent criminal, they went to the house with 20 police officers, the Anti-Terror Branch was engaged. This client of mine was detained at the night of July 3.

"There was a second notice against my client, allegedly submitted to the 112 Emergency Service Line, saying "he is fleeing." These are all made up. Their sources are not certain.

"It is as if there was a ghost with a special interest in the ones defending LGBTIQ+ rights. We do not know who this person is. It is not certain who this informer is or whether he or she does really exist. If there is really an informer and knows something about it, then, he or she should come up and file criminal complaint. It is a plot of another sort.

"It means the following: An anonymous person rants and rave about you to the 112 emergency service line, sends a fax to the prosecutor and, then, people are detained on terror-charges. It is a grave situation.

'Emergency service line turned into an informer's line'

"The notices submitted to the Governorship under the name of 112 Emergency Service Line need to point at an emergency situation. In other words, something needs to be happening at that moment. There cannot be a notice that says, 'They will attend METU graduation ceremony and stir up trouble', such notices are not taken seriously.

"As you know, this line is used by the public in cases of emergency, for instance, to call an ambulance. But, when you look at it, you see that the 112 Line has turned into a place to an infomer's line for terror charges."

Concluding her remarks, Aydın stated that "the Regulation on Emergency Service Line is, in a sense, being misused."

'It is contrary to law'

We have also talked to Ankara Bar Association Chair Erinç Sağkan regarding the investigations launched upon notices and the warrants issued against METU students ahead of graduation ceremony.

"To put it explicitly, the detention of some students in the dead of the night upon an informer's email openly violates the Article 91/2 of the Law on Penal Courts (CMK). It is also against the by-law and Constitution. It is also contrary to the Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

"If there is really such an instruction, the Public Prosecutor's should take action on its own motion and launch an investigation against the ones who gave and implemented the instruction in question. Moreover, in the event that these students file a lawsuit, they will have the right to be paid damages." (AÖ/SD)