İstanbul – A reporter for the Etkin News Agency (ETHA) and four executives of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed were released from detention after a hearing at İstanbul 32. High Criminal Court today. The hearing was adjourned until February 19 2019.
Ali Sönmez Kayar, the ETHA reporter, and the four other defendants have been in pre-trial detention for nine months. After a delay of an hour and a half in the hearing’s start time, Kayar submitted his defense.
“All segments of the society are crying for justice,” Kayar remarked, noting that 170 journalists have been imprisoned in Turkey. “As it is stated behind your chair, if a state is not founded upon justice, chaos and conflict are inevitable. Lawyers, journalists, and academics are getting arrested, which means that everyone who is in opposition is facing these threats. The demonstrations and events I have attended were all peaceful and democratic demonstrations from which the prosecution is seeking to find elements of a crime.” The four other defendants also submitted defense statements, after which they requested release from detention. Although the prosecution opposed the request, the court chose to grant it. The court also lifted a stringent requirement that the defendants provide authorities with their signature each week. The court did however impose a ban on overseas travel before the next hearing, which is scheduled for February 19 2019.
Updated: November 27 2018
