Additional 7 Days of Detention Issued for Human Rights Advocates

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An additional seven days of detention has been issued for the human rights advocates who were taken into custody at training meeting in Büyükada in İstanbul.

Detention period of the human rights advocates, who were detained on charge of “being a member of an armed organization” on July 5 and were issued seven days of detention, was expected to end tomorrow (July 12).

Prosecutor Can Tuncay, who runs the investigation, has been granted an additional seven days of detention.

According to the information that attorney Selin Nakıpoğlu gave to bianet, the human rights defenders are kept in İstanbul Security Directorate on Vatan Street.

House raid

Police searched the houses of the rights advocates and informed the attorneys afterwards, Nakıpoğlu stated.

According to a report by Canan Coşkun from Cumhuriyet newspaper, three books have been seized in the search carried out in the house of İlknur Üstün from the Women’s Coalition as well as Üstün’s CDs that include photos and videos of Üstün’s studies on women, SIM cards, two old cell phones and digital material.

Attorney Eyüboğlu: There is no crime but they are trying to find one

Of the attorneys representing human rights advocates, Oya Meriç Eyüboğlu expressed that the possibility of extending the detention period was being spoken of during the whole week and the rights advocates were aware of the situation.

“There is no crime but we are concerned that they are in search of ‘finding a crime’. We ascribe this search to this. Of course nothing will come out of this search. Our clients’ spirits are high, they await the proceedings to end”.

Eyüboğlu added that their objections against the detention, extending the detention and other legal contradictions have been rejected.

The detainees are as follows:

Nalan Erkem and Özlem Dalkıran (Helsinki Citizens Assembly), İlknur Üstün (Women's Coalition), İdil Eser (Human Rights Watch Director to Turkey) and Veli Acu (Human Rights Agenda Association), Günal Kurşun (Human Rights Agenda Association), Nejat Taştan (Association for Monitoring Equal Rights), Şeyhmuz Özbekli (Rights Initiative), Ali Garawi (human rights trainer), and Peter Steudtner (German citizen human rights trainer). (BK/TK)