Investigation for ‘Insulting President’ Against Activist Whose 20-Year Archive was Confiscated

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An investigation has been launched against video activist and documentary filmmaker Oktay İnce on charge of "insulting the President." The archive of İnce, who has been documenting people performing different activities on the street to demand justice, was previously confiscated.

An investigation was also launched against İnce for "praising terrorism" due to his social media posts shared on his Twitter account "Seyri Sokak."

As part of this investigation, his house in İzmir was raided by the police on October 16, 2018 and all his archive as well as the digital devices of his family were confiscated for examination.

After exhausting all bureaucratic avenues to take back his 20-year archive, İnce has started protesting in front of the İzmir Governorship. This time, an investigation has been launched against him for "insulting President."

Speaking about the issue, İnce said, "Such an investigation has been launched against me after I protested to get my archive back." İnce deposed to the Prosecutor's Office as part of this investigation.

Minister Soylu answered the letter by PEN America

After the professional and private archive was confiscated, PEN America sent a letter to Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül, Minister of Interior Soylu and Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy and made a call to the ministers to return the video, photograph and document archive of İnce.

Soylu: Turkey respects human rights

Responding to the letter of PEN America, Minister Soylu said, "Struggling against all incidents of terror and violence targeting the sovereignty of the Republic of Turkey and security of our citizens in accordance with legal principles is an obligation that arises from being a state."

Underlining that "Turkey is a state of law respecting human rights", Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu has also stated, "It is the independent judicial bodies that will give a ruling in legal investigations."

Soylu has said, "Your biased request for dropping the charges against a person who is currently facing a legal investigation conflicts with the principle of rule of law, which has a universal validity." (HA/SD)