HDP's parliamentary question on 6 media professionals kept in custody for 19 days
HDP parliamentary group leader Ahmet Yıldırım submitted a parliamentary question about 6 journalists and media professionals – Mahir Kanaat from BirGün; Tunca Öğreten from Diken; Derya Okatan from ETHA; Ömer Çelik and Metin Yoksu from DİHA; and, Eray Saygın from Yolculuk – who have been in custody since December 25th.
The 6 journalists and media professionals were not given permission to speak to anyone for the first 5 days. Although their contact with their lawyers was allowed after the 5th day, they still have not seen their family members. BirGün professional Mahir Kanaat’s wife gave birth to their second child while Kanaat is in custody. And, ETHA editor Derya Okatan has gone on a hunger strike. Meanwhile, their lawyers are told the prosecutor handling the case is ‘on vacation.’
Mentioning these details in his parliamentary question, HDP MP Yıldırım criticized the response of the officials about the prosecutor and said: “Does judiciary process get suspended when a prosecutor takes off from work?”
Defining the crackdown of the government on media as ‘terror of the judiciary’, Yıldırım said the current process is even worse than the previous times of martial law.
Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/18-gundur-gozaltinda-tutulan-6-gazeteci-meclis-gundeminde-142814.html