4 journalists arrested in Van province

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Detained in Turkey's Kurdish-majority province of Van on October 6, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reporters Adnan Bilen and Cemil Uğur, Jinnews reporter Şehriban Abi and journalist Nazan Sala were arrested on October 9.

As reported by daily Yeni Yaşam, following their four-day detention period, the journalists gave their statements in the evening the other day.

During the interrogation, the detained journalists were asked questions about the content of the news that they reporterd. The journalists were also reportedly asked who instructed them to make news and how they met their expenses when they went somewhere for news.

Taken to the courthouse, they were referred to court by the prosecutor's office to be arrested on charge of "membership of the organization."

The court has ruled that journalists Adnan Bilen, Cemil Uğur, Şehriban Abi and Nazan Sala shall be arrested. Yeni Yaşam distributor Fehim Çetiner and former distributor Şükran Erdem have been released with an international travel ban and a judicial control measure.

What happened?

Police raided the office of Mezopotamya Agency (MA) and houses of several journalists, including Jinnews reporters, in Turkey's Kurdish majority eastern province of Van in the early morning hours on October 5.

MA reporters Adnan Bilen and Cemil Uğur, Jinnews reporter Şehriban Abi and Nazan Sala were detained in the raids.

Cemil Uğur, one of the detained journalists, revealed it with documents that Servet Turgut and Osman Şiban were dropped from a helicopter after they had been taken into custody by the soldiers launching an operation in the rural parts of Çatak district in Van. Treated in the intensive care unit for days after the incident, Turgut lost his life on September 30.

The Van Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, which has been conducting an investigation into the allegations, has both imposed a confidentiality order on the investigation file and a ban on news to be broadcast or published about the allegations. (EKN/SD)