AMED - Condemning the fact that the indictment of the 16 journalists arrested in Amed on June 16 was not prepared for 6 months and stating that this turned into a method of punishment, Resul Temur, the lawyer of the journalists, said: "They won't be able to fabricate evidence for imprisoned journalists"

 

As part of an investigation conducted by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, 16 of 22 people, including 20 journalists, were detained on June 8, 183 days after their arrest on June 16, yet their indictments have not been prepared. Evaluating the lack of preparation of the indictment of the journalists, Resul Temur, the lawyer of the journalists, said that the state of detention turned into a policy of punishment.

 

NO PROGRESS ON THE INDICTMENT!

 

Pointing out that although the contents of the file were served by the press close to the government during the detention process of the arrested journalists, the indictment had not been prepared yet, Temur said: “After the arrest, the confidentiality decision within the scope of the file continued for about 6 months. Despite all our objections regarding the detention, no legal evaluation has been made either before the Criminal Judgeships of Peace or before the Criminal Court of First Instance. Although the file has passed for 6 months, no progress has been made within the scope of the file."

 

'EVIDENCE IS JOURNALISTIC ACTIVITY'

 

Criticizing the shortcomings presented as the reason for not preparing the indictment, Temur said: “We are not told exactly what this shortcoming is. Therefore, there is uncertainty as to how long the deficiency will be remedied and how long it will continue. Although the laws do not stipulate a date or a limited period for the preparation of the indictment, this should happen within a fair time frame. In the end, 16 people were deprived of their liberty and tried in pre-trial detention in the file, all of whom were arrested just for carrying out their journalistic activities. The grounds for arrest are also based on this. Therefore, even if the 60-month period, not the 6-month period, lapses in the file, there will be no case of obtaining any illegal evidence beyond the journalistic activities. The evidence is the journalistic activity. At the most, other programs of journalists can be analyzed, and the 82-hour program can be increased to maybe 100 hours, maybe 200 hours, but they won't be able to fabricate evidence for imprisoned journalists.”