They have been arrested 'because they protested intensively'

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Six people who had been protesting in Yüksel Street in Ankara "to get their jobs back" were arrested on August 22. In the ruling of arrest given by the judgeship, it has been indicated that "they continued protesting intensively despite previous judicial control measures."

Mehmet Dersulu, Armağan Özbaş, Acun Karadağ, Nazan Bozkurt, Mahmut Konuk and Alev Şahin, who was protesting in Düzce, have been arrested by the Ankara 5th Penal Judgeship of Peace "by also considering the appropriate sentence to be given as a result of their protests."

Speaking to bianet about the arrest of Yüksel resisters, attorney Evin Konuk has said, "In the justification of the arrest, it is written that '...as they continued protesting intensively despite being under judicial control, the measure of judicial control will not suffice.' It shows that these arrests aim to prevent Yüksel protests, they aim to end these protests."

Konuk has also underlined that "judicial control is a measure imposed to prevent people from going abroad or leaving a city." She added, "It is not a measure given to prevent protests, but it is said that they have been arrested because they continued protesting."

They went to depose, but arrested due to 'flight risk'

Protesting to "get their jobs back" in Yüksel Street in Ankara, Nazan Bozkurt and Mehmet Dersulu knew about the investigation months ago and went to the prosecutor's office themselves to depose. However, their deposition was not taken back then. They are now behind bars as part of the same investigation "on the ground that they have flight risk."

While being interrogated at the Ankara 5th Penal Judgeship of Peace, Nazan Bozkurt was also asked why she was wearing a vest in yellow-red. Bozkurt answered that her vest was in those colors because they were eye-catching and because she was a socialist.

Legal bulletin cited as evidence

Acun Karadağ, one of the protesters, said that they applied to official authorities for the Resistance Council Bulletin and no ban was imposed on the bulletin. "If there had been a ban, I would have closed it," she said.

During her interrogation, it was indicated that as 51-year-old Acun Karadağ has asthma, spine rheumatism and cardiac pacemaker, her arrest would be risky for her, considering the pandemic conditions.

'There will be no one left to look after my family'

Alev Şahin also said that in all investigations launched against her on similar charges, she abided by judicial control decisions.

Armağan Özbaş said that he had not gone to Kızılay near Yüksel Street for a month, he was now making a living by working as a porter while his spouse was knitting to support the family. He noted that if he was arrested, there would be no one left to look after his family.

'A protest is either legal or not'

Evin Konuk, the daughter and attorney of Mahmut Konuk, reminded the court board that another investigation was launched with the same charges in 2018 and that there was still an ongoing case.

In response to the allegation that the protesters "were propagandizing for the organization under the auspices of seeking justice," attorney Konuk said that "a protest was either legal or illegal."

She underlined that the protests in question were within the legal boundaries of seeking justice, adding that there was no concrete evidence as to the accusations, but it was based on evaluations of the security directorate.

There is wiretapping, but no tapes

Derviş Emre Aydın, the attorney of Mehmet Dersulu, said that there had already been several lawsuits filed into Yüksel Street protests, none of them ended in conviction and, in fact, his client Mehmet Dersulu had been previously acquitted of similar charges brought against him.

Regarding the operation, he said, "The decision to launch an operation was taken while the prosecutor of the file was on leave, which has revealed that the file was conducted as an administrative inquiry."

Despite there were technical (wiretapping) and physical surveillance, these were not added to the file, attorney Aydın indicated further. "It shows that no evidence showing the accusation can be obtained," he added.

Mehmet Dersulu also said that he was discharged while he had been a teacher for 14 years and started protesting by using his democratic right.

However, despite these statements, the judgeship ruled that they should be arrested. Discharged from Konya Selçuk University by a Statutory Decree, Nuriye Gülmen, also a Yüksel protester, was also arrested on August 11. (AS/SD)