İstanbul mayor calls for freedom for Gezi prisoners
Click to read the article in Turkish
İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu called for the freedom of Gezi prisoners who have now completed six months in prison.
Naming his colleague at the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Tayfun Kahraman, as well as Osman Kavala, Mücella Yapıcı, Çiğdem Mater, Hakan Altınay, Mine Özerden and Can Atalay, other Gezi prisoners İmamoğlu wrote, "Justice will prevail, unlawfulness will end."
CLICK - Who are the eight convicts of the Gezi case?
In a video he shared, the mayor said, "Freedom for Gezi prisoners. In fact it is very sad, embarrasing to make such a call in our Türkiye in 2022, in the 21st century.
"We will wage a struggle with all our strength for my brother Tayfun Kahraman and all my friends who are also unfortunately in prison together with him to win their freedom at once. In the days when justice is secured at the utmost level, such cases of injustice and unlawfulness will disappear.
"I am looking towards the change that will take place in 2023. But I hope that the judges, the prosecutors will see how unfair this file is when the file comes to them. I call for the freedom of my dear brother Tayfun and all my friends."
An İstanbul court on April 25 sentenced businessperson Osman Kavala to aggravated life imprisonment for "attempting to overthrow the government," and seven others — Mücella Yapıcı, Çiğdem Mater, Hakan Altınay, Mine Özerden, Can Atalay and Tayfun Kahraman — to 18 years in prison for "aiding the attempt."
Adalet elbet yerini bulacak, hukuksuzluk son bulacak.
— Ekrem İmamoğlu (@ekrem_imamoglu) October 24, 2022
Çalışma arkadaşım @tayfun_kahraman ve tüm Gezi tutsaklarına özgürlük istiyoruz.
#GeziyeBinSelam pic.twitter.com/F7FO89pFdk
(HA/PE/VK)