Villagers Celal Yıldırım (58), Münir Serin and Bedran Yıldırım were wounded by army fire during the helicopter operation in the Mişrif (Bağlan) village in Amed’s Lice district on September 3, and were later detained. After their depositions in the Diyarbakır Provincial Gendarmerie Command, the villagers were referred to the Diyarbakır Courthouse. They gave statements in the prosecutor’s office and were sent to the court on duty with a demand for their arrest on allegations of “membership to a terrorist organization”, after which they were arrested.

WHAT HAD HAPPENED

Münir Serin was on his way back froun his field in the Bağlan (Mışrif) village in Lice, Amed on September 3 when he was wounded in his leg by gunfire from a military helicopter. 58 year old father of 13 Celal Yıldırım was riding on his tractor when he was wounded in his face and leg, and his son Bedran Yıldırm was detained. The wounded villagers were reportedly severely battered by the soldiers, and the people who attempted to intervene were met with insults and curses. After news of the incident spread, the wounded villagers who had been kept in the scene for hours were taken to the hospital, but were detained before their treatment was completed and were taken to the Diyarbakır Provincial Gendarmerie Command. HDP MPs visited the village and issued a statement, where they said the people raked through by the soldiers were villagers returning from their fields and added: “These are military drills carried out under Süleyman Soylu’s orders in Kurdish villagers. In these incidents which we call ‘live drills’, civilians are shot at, which is a war crime.” The Diyarbakır Governorate issued a statement and called the wounded villagers “co-conspirators” and “terrorists”.