In the trial of journalist Yıldız Tar and writer İbrahim Elçi, requests to lift the judicial control measure and to remove police officers from the courtroom were rejected. The hearing was adjourned to June 24 at 2:15 p.m.
Büşra Genel
ANKARA — The trial of journalist Yıldız Tar and writer İbrahim Elçi, who are being tried on the charge of “membership in an armed terrorist organization” as part of an investigation into the Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK), was held at the Ankara 17th High Criminal Court. The court rejected the request to lift the judicial control measure. The objection regarding the presence of police officers in the courtroom was also not accepted.
In the case, for which the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) is providing legal support, defendants Yıldız Tar and İbrahim Elçi were present at the hearing. Lawyers Veysel Ok and Emine Özhasar from the MLSA Legal Unit also attended the hearing.
Representatives from the Istanbul Bar Association Human Rights Center, Amnesty International, ÜniKuir Association, GALADER LGBTI+ Solidarity Association, LİSTAG Family Group, the May 17 Association, Red Umbrella Sexual Health and Human Rights Association, the Human Rights Association (İHD) LGBTI+ Commission, the Revolutionary Socialist Workers’ Party (DSİP), the Socialist Refoundation Party (SYKP), the LGBTI+ Initiative, the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), the Education and Science Workers’ Union (Eğitim-Sen) Branch No. 1, the Ankara Bar Association LGBTI+ Rights Center, the Women’s Solidarity Foundation, the European Union Delegation Human Rights School, the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS), and the Progressive Journalists Association (ÇGD) monitored the hearing.
The hearing began after identity checks.
Before the hearing, MLSA Legal Unit Director, Attorney Veysel Ok, requested that police officers be removed from the courtroom so that the defendants could make their defense statements comfortably. The court panel rejected the request.
The court panel asked the defendants and their lawyers whether they would make any additional defense statements. The defendants and their lawyers stated that they would not make additional defense statements.
The public prosecutor requested the continuation of the current judicial control measures. Objecting to this request, Attorney Veysel Ok said, “Yıldız is a well-known journalist and civil society worker. She needs to travel abroad due to her profession. We request the lifting of the judicial control measures so that she can continue her profession.”
The court rejected the request to lift the judicial control measure.
The court also decided to request a written response from the Counterterrorism Branch Directorate regarding Hasan Bat, whose name appears in the indictment.
The next hearing was adjourned to June 24 at 2:15 p.m.
About the case
As part of the investigation launched on Feb. 18 into the Peoples’ Democratic Congress, 53 people were detained, including Labor Party (EMEP) Istanbul Provincial Chair Sema Barbaros, Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Central Executive Committee member Mehmet Saltoğlu, Socialist Refoundation Party (SYKP) Party Assembly members Halit Elçi and Ahmet Saymadi, journalists Elif Akgül, Yıldız Tar and Ercüment Akdeniz, screenwriter Ayşe Bengi, and artist Pınar Aydınlar.
Of the 53 people detained, 35 were referred to the Criminal Judgeship of Peace with a request for arrest, 13 with a request for a “ban on leaving home,” and two with a request for judicial control measures in the form of signing at a police station and a travel ban abroad.
