The police had raided Şefik Tunuç’s home in Gevaş and held a gun to his head in 2014, and Tunuç had died after he suffered a heart attack. Journalist Hülya Emeç who reported on the incident, Tunuç’s wife and other agency employees are being sued now.
The police had raided Şefik Tunuç’s (48) home in the Pınarbaşı neighborhood of Van’s Gevaş district three times in 2014, on October 15 and 17 and November 2. The police flashed heavy weapons in all three raids, and searched the house under the pretense of detaining the son Umut Tunuç. Şefik Tunuç had a gun to his head in the last raid, and was told to “bring [his] son or else it will be horrible for [him]” after which he suffered a heart attack and lost his life in the hospital he was taken 2 days later.
Hülya Emeç was working for Dicle News Agency at that time, and wrote a report on the incident. Emeç and Refik Tunuç’s wife Hafize Tunuç are being sued for violating the Turkish Penal Code Article No.301, “Openly disparaging the Turkish nation, the Republic of Turkey or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the government of the Republic of Turkey, the state’s judiciary, military or security forces”. The lawsuit was filed by the Gevaş Court of General Sessions after necessary permits were obtained from the Ministry of Justice, and the first hearing will be on November 8.
The prosecution prepared an indictment against Emeç and Tunuç and DİHA’s then-chairperson Zekeriya Güzüpek, managing editor Dicle Müftüoğlu and Van Bureau Chief Ferhat Çelik to be tried on the same charge.
