Grup Yorum Band Members Released

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Tried in İstanbul 23rd Heavy Penal Court, members of the band Grup Yorum, as well as  another defendant, have been released in the first trial of the case against the band.

Grup Yorum members Ali Aracı, İnan Altın, Selma Altın, Sultan Gökçek, Fırat Kıl, Dilan Poyraz and Helin Bölek, were detained at  the Okmeydanı İdil Cultural Center, along with Abdullah Özgün, who was working construction at the center. They were arrested on November 23, 2016 by the İstanbul 12th Criminal Judgeship of Peace.

The next hearing will be on June 13, 2017.

What happened?

İdil Cultural Center was raided by police with long-barreled weapons on November 18, 2016.

Their search warrant allowed officers to enter the center on the premise with the intention of: “Searching for weapons and ammunition, the doubt of sheltering [illegal] organization members in the cultural center, and reaching crime evidence”.

According to the investigation file, the “evidence” uncovered during the search included: “Gas mask; hammers of the workers; editions of a culture-art magazine called Tavır; edition of the political magazines called Yürüyüş and Kurtuluş; green shirts and green pants.

During questioning, the band members and Özgün  were asked the same three questions: “Did you say ‘human honor will defeat torture’ as you were being detained?”, “How are you related to the crime evidence?”, “Why were you present at the İdil Cultural Center?”

The seven band members and worker Özgün stood their first trial on March 1, 2017. (AS/TK)