CJA General Chair Selçuk Kozağaçlı detained

General Chair of the Contemporary Jurists Association (CJA), closed under a decree with the force of law, Selçuk Kozağaçlı, who is the attorney of hunger-striking academic Nuriye Gülmen and teacher Semih Özakça and is himself on hunger strike, was taken to the judicial complex four days after his arrest. Selçuk Kozağaçlı was ordered into detention on being taken to the judicial complex.
 
General Chair of the Contemporary Jurists Association (CJA), closed under a decree with the force of law, Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Attorney-at-Law, who was arrested in Istanbul on 8 November, was taken to the Istanbul Judicial Complex located in Çağlayan. Transported to the judicial complex following health checks, Kozağaçlı’s statement to the public prosecution was taken. CJA and Libertarian Lawyers’ Platform (LLP)-member lawyers and the Istanbul, Adana, Ankara and Sakarya bar association chairs attended while Kozağaçlı gave his statement to the public prosecution.
 
Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Attorney-at-Law, who was brought today to the Istanbul Judicial Complex in Çağlayan by Istanbul Police Directorate Counterterrorism Branch Directorate teams, was, following his interrogation by the prosecution, sent before a court with his detention sought on “organisation membership” charges. Kozağaçlı was detained following examination.
 
Scuffle in judicial complex corridor
 
Kozağaçlı was brought before the Duty Penal Judgeship of the Peace No 10. Short-lived tension was experienced between private security staff and lawyers on the floor to which Kozağaçlı was taken. The lawyers overturned security barriers set up in the corridor and entered. Having entered the corridor, the lawyers chanted the slogan, “Defence is a right and cannot be hindered” and congregated in front of the courtroom. The lawyers continued to wait in front of the courtroom. A large number of rapid reaction force police officers were also being deployed in the corridor. Kozağaçlı began to be examined by the judge before whom he appeared with his detention sought.
 
Prior to the statement procedures, Kozağaçlı made a statement in front of the judicial complex stewarded by the CJA and LLP. Alongside numerous lawyers, present during the statement were People’s Democracy Party (HDP) Deputy Group Chair Filiz Kerestecioğlu, CHP Ankara MP Ali Haydar Hakverdi, bar association chairs, Human Rights Foundation of Turkey General Chair Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı and author Eşber Yağmurdereli.
INTIMIDATION IS THE GOAL
 
According to a report by Mezopotamya News Agency, CJA Istanbul Branch Chair Gökmen Yeşil, speaking on behalf of the lawyers, said that Kozağaçlı was arrested without any legal grounds. Yeşil said that sixteen lawyers who were members and administrators of the People’s Law Office and the CJA had been detained as part of the investigation that was cited as the basis for Kozağaçlı’s arrest. Yeşil, saying that there was a wish to render social opposition defenceless and entrench and solidify the atmosphere of fear, said, “Through apprehending, detaining and torturing the resisters and those who defend the resisters, there is basically a wish to intimidate those struggles. In short, the basic reason why the case prosecutor and deputy chief prosecutor sidestepped negotiations stems from the fact that they have nothing to say in legal terms. They, too, know full well that what is being implemented today is not legal, but purely political.”
 
Yeşil, commenting that the investigation being conducted into Kozağaçlı is contrary to the Constitution and statute and had no legitimacy, said, “Our colleague must be freed at once. The truths concealed behind the investigation file must be made known to the people.”
 
Statement from hunger-striking educationalist Semih Özakça whose attorney has been detained

Hunger-striking educationalist Semih Özakça made a post on his social media account concerning the detaining of his attorney Selçuk Kozağaçlı. Özakça’s post read, “One more of our lawyers has been detained. Hundreds remain on the outside! It is not being in jail or on the outside that determines whether you are defending the people. Freedom for our detained lawyers!”
 
Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Attorney-at-Law’s speech prior to his being detained: Winter ends in spring
 
“I embrace everyone. Nobody can scare us by detaining us. We will not be afraid. Account will be demanded in the Soma case for the 301 people who were slaughtered. Everyone here will demand this. Whether I am on the inside or the outside will have no effect. We will never abandon this case. Until account has been demanded from the last murderer and account has been demanded for the last of our dead, we will not abandon the Soma case. Let everyone feel at ease inside. I embrace everyone. I hug everybody one by one. Mothers, brothers, wives, children ... we will never abandon them. This is the price for Soma and Suruç, for Nuriye and Semih, and we will pay it. We pay it from our hearts. For sure, the day will come when they hold us to account. Let’s see if everyone is as comfortable about paying as we will be when held to account. We will pay this account with pleasure, because we stand behind the work we do. I know that the Soma case will never stop being pursued. Winter ends in spring and we will secure our rights.”