A grand jury investigated the attack on the crowd peacefully protesting Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan’s anti-democratic practices by a group of civilian fascists and the President’s bodyguards and decided to go through with the lawsuit. The jury assessed the events of May 16 where a large group of people including women were subjected to violence, and approved the indictment.

VIDEO EVIDENCE POINTS TO ERDOĞAN

As evidenced by video footage, the attack started with the direct order from Erdoğan. 4 civilian fascists and 15 of Erdoğan’s bodyguards will be facing trial for the events.

The Washington D.C. prosecutor’s office announced that 16 names on the case have already been indicted and the names of 3 bodyguards were later on added. The newly added bodyguards are Muhsin Köse, Yusuf Ayar and Hayrettin Eren.

According to the prosecutor’s office announcement, all 19 defendants will be facing trial for violent behavior aggravated through hate crime. According to the US law, they are facing up to 15 years in prison each.

ADDITIONAL CHARGES

There are some additional charges against some of the defendants on top of the hate crime charges. Arrest warrants were issued for 12 of the defendants in June.

There are four people in indictment who are not Erdoğan’s bodyguards. Out of these four people, Eyüp Yıldırım, who lives in New Jersey, and Sinan Narin, who lives in Virginia, are in remand now. The remanded defendants will face the judge on September 7.

On May 16, 11 people including women were injured during the attack in front of Turkey’s Washington Embassy official residence against the peaceful protesters.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and Washington Police Chief Peter Newsham condemned the events in a joint press conference and called the incident “a vile attack against civilians”.