An objection was filed by the MLSA Legal Unit against the decision for administrative detention and deportation of Raphaël Boukandoura, the Turkey correspondent of the French newspaper Libération, who was taken into custody on January 19 while following a press statement held in Sarıgazi at the call of the DEM Party.
Upon the objection, MLSA Co-Director Atty. Veysel Ok said that the deportation process of Boukandoura must be legally stopped, and stated that the journalist must be released immediately upon the objection.
Raphael Yann Boukandoura, the Turkey correspondent of Libération, who was apprehended and taken into custody while following a press statement on the events in Syria, which took place in the evening of January 19 in the Sarıgazi neighborhood of Istanbul upon the call of the DEM Party, was brought to the Arnavutköy Removal Center to be deported after his statement.
The MLSA Legal Unit accompanied the statement of the French journalist, who was placed under administrative detention. The MLSA Legal Unit filed an objection against the decision for administrative detention and the deportation procedures of Boukandoura, who was transferred to the Removal Center.
In its objection, MLSA stated that Boukandoura has been working as a journalist in Turkey for more than ten years. Emphasizing that the deportation of the journalist, who has also written many news reports about Turkey, would violate press and expression freedoms, the MLSA Legal Unit demanded that the decision be immediately lifted and that the journalist be released.
MLSA Co-Director Atty. Veysel Ok, in a statement regarding the matter, said that Boukandoura being held under detention due to his journalistic activity is unlawful, that the deportation process must be stopped upon objection, and that he must be released immediately.
