Nuriye and Semih’s lawyers: Let them live and we’ll do jail time

Seyhan Avşar
 
Present at the hearing held at Serious Crime Court No 18 were Contemporary Jurists Association General Chair Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Attorney-at-Law, along with the detained attorneys-at-law Barkın Timtik, Ebru Timtik, Naciye Demir, Şükriye Erdan and Özgür Yılmaz. Barkın Timtik said that she had been detained for acting as attorney for hunger-striking academic Nuriye Gülmen and teacher Semih Özakça. Timtik said, “I am proud to be their lawyer and I am prepared to do years of jail time if they will live. If Nuriye and Semih living depends on our being held captive, we accept captivity.” Selçuk Kozağaçlı said, “I was asked in the case in which I was detained, ‘Why did you handle the Soma Trial? Did the organisation steer you?’ This was an immoral and shameful question.”
 
Ahmet Şık and I...
 
Ebru Timtik, Attorney-at-Law, who was brought to the hearing from Balıkesir T-Type Prison, for her part, said, “Ahmet Şık and I are the detainees of all periods. The government has always attacked us when the crisis deepens and it becomes incapable of governing.” The hearing was adjourned until 23 May 2018.