People of Hopa on trial for defending right to life
People of Hopa on trial for defending right to life
Seven people who were arrested in the course of unrests before and after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan's visit to Hopa in June this year are now being tried in Erzurum under allegations of "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization". Reporting on the news, Bianet writes that the defendants stand accused of "making propaganda for the Turkey's People's Liberation Party-Front (THKP-C). Erdoðan had visited the city on the eastern Black Sea coast during the run-up to the general elections.
The four-page indictment indicates slogans, marches, banners and raising the left fist as 'evidence' of the seven people propaganda making. In the previous ruling, the prosecutor had written that the defendants "had no connections to an illegal organization".
Lawyer Gülþen Uzuner, Secretary General of the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD) Ankara Branch, told bianet, "The people of Hopa are being punished because they defended their right to life and their right for water and because they have revolutionary opinions".
Hundreds of people demonstrated against hydroelectric power plants in Hopa (Artvin) on 31 May, the day of Erdoðan's rally in the city. 54-year old retired teacher Metin Lokumcu died of a heart attack when the police intervened against the demonstrators with the massive use of tear gas. Police officer Servet Erkan was injured when he fell off a vehicle.
Bianet recalls that a total of 36 people were arrested in Hopa, Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir during protests against Lokumcu's death and the police intervention. Only in Hopa 14 people were arrested, seven of whom are now on trial under Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK) related to propaganda for an illegal organization.
The indictment prepared by Special Authority Public Prosecutor Rasim Karakullukçu was accepted this Wednesday (24 August). It demands prison sentences of between one and three years each for defendants Ali Aksu, Ýbrahim Aksu, Görgü Demirpençe, Ýdris Akbýyýk, Erhan Köse, Þafak Ustabaþ and Önder Öner. The first hearing before the Erzurum 4th High Criminal Court is set for 14 September.
Bianet underlines that the indictment mentions that the legal action started upon the statement of the Artvin Provincial Police Anti-Terror Branch Directorate claiming that "the incidents in Hopa were organized by illegal left-wing organizations". It is furthermore said that members of the legal organizations of the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) Hopa District Organization, the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) and the Community Centres gathered to protest the rally of PM Erdoðan.
The four-page indictment indicates slogans, marches, banners and raising the left fist as 'evidence' of the seven people propaganda making. In the previous ruling, the prosecutor had written that the defendants "had no connections to an illegal organization".
Lawyer Gülþen Uzuner, Secretary General of the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD) Ankara Branch, told bianet, "The people of Hopa are being punished because they defended their right to life and their right for water and because they have revolutionary opinions".
Hundreds of people demonstrated against hydroelectric power plants in Hopa (Artvin) on 31 May, the day of Erdoðan's rally in the city. 54-year old retired teacher Metin Lokumcu died of a heart attack when the police intervened against the demonstrators with the massive use of tear gas. Police officer Servet Erkan was injured when he fell off a vehicle.
Bianet recalls that a total of 36 people were arrested in Hopa, Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir during protests against Lokumcu's death and the police intervention. Only in Hopa 14 people were arrested, seven of whom are now on trial under Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK) related to propaganda for an illegal organization.
The indictment prepared by Special Authority Public Prosecutor Rasim Karakullukçu was accepted this Wednesday (24 August). It demands prison sentences of between one and three years each for defendants Ali Aksu, Ýbrahim Aksu, Görgü Demirpençe, Ýdris Akbýyýk, Erhan Köse, Þafak Ustabaþ and Önder Öner. The first hearing before the Erzurum 4th High Criminal Court is set for 14 September.
Bianet underlines that the indictment mentions that the legal action started upon the statement of the Artvin Provincial Police Anti-Terror Branch Directorate claiming that "the incidents in Hopa were organized by illegal left-wing organizations". It is furthermore said that members of the legal organizations of the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) Hopa District Organization, the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) and the Community Centres gathered to protest the rally of PM Erdoðan.
