'Erdoganistan' - Detained journalists’ lawyers not allowed to join defense in courthouse.(FactsonTurkey).
The lawyers of Zaman Editor-in-chief Ekrem Dumanlı and Samanyolu TV network executive Hidayet Karaca were not allowed to enter the courtroom where the two detained journalists were giving their defense to the court on Thursday.
Twelve of the 30 people detained as part of a government-backed police operation — launched on Dec. 14 against high-level media members, directors and producers of a popular television serial and police officers — have been released after being interrogated by the police, while 16 — including Dumanlı and Karaca — were referred to a court at the Çağlayan Courthouse in İstanbul early on Thursday.
The two journalists were referred to the court following a lengthy interrogation during their four-day detention that is already a punishment by itself.
Tension erupted at the courthouse when the lawyers of Dumanlı and Karaca were not allowed to enter the courtroom while the two journalists were giving their defense to the court.
The lawyers wanted to enter the courtroom to observe the defense as is their right, but were stopped by a blockade of dozens of police officers waiting at the courthouse’s corridors.
Stating that it is their right to enter the courtroom to defend their clients, the lawyers were stopped by the police officers who said there is a court order that says only one lawyer of each suspect can enter the room. The lawyers, however, refuted this, declaring every suspect has the right under current laws to be defended by more than one lawyer.
In a related issue, the police officers forming the blockage took photographs of the lawyers and press members who were there to cover the developments. The lawyers also reacted against this, claiming that taking photographs of the lawyers and press members is an attempt at profiling these people.
Source: Today’s Zaman
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