International support for the Justice Watch (20.04.2017)

CANAN COŞKUN

Lawyers started a Justice Watch two weeks ago in solidarity with our editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, Executive Board Chair Akın Atalay, book supplement manager Turhan Günay, publication consultant and columnist Kadri Gürsel, readers’ representative Güray Öz, cartoonist Musa Kart, columnist Hakan Kara, lawyers Bülent Utku and Mustafa Kemal Güngör, columnist Ahmet Şık and manager Önder Çelik, who are in pre-trial detention as part of the investigation aimed at silencing our paper.

A harsh intervention was made against the watch by rapid reaction police officers using gas canisters and shields. In the course of the intervention, Contemporary Jurists Association Istanbul Branch Chair Gökmen Yeşil sustained a broken nose and lawyer Erkan Ünüvar a broken leg, while eight lawyers were arrested. A crime report was filed with the public prosecution last week in relation to the said police assault. This week, lawyers held a watch at the entrance to door C of the judicial complex. The CHP member of parliament Sezgin Tanrıkulu and Barbaros Şansal also supported the watch.

The quest for justice will continue

Lawyer Kemal Aytaç, making a statement at the end of the watch, said that their quest for justice would continue. Aytaç, thanking the bar association representatives who came from Europe, said, ‘We will show everyone how the defence in Istanbul has stood up for justice.’