Prosecutor Arrests Two Unionists

LIMTER-IS chairman Cem Dinc and the union's training expert Kamber Saygili were detained by police on Sunday as they went to file a criminal complaint against the police attack on June 10, Friday, where they themselves were beaten.

LIMTER-IS Training and Organisation expert Levent Akhan said that on Friday police officers singled out Dinc and Saygili during an attack on workers at the DESAN dockyard in Tuzla and then started hitting the unionists with truncheons.

"Cem Dinc was injured in two places of his head. He had received a doctor's report. He was detained when he went to file a criminal complaint on Sunday. He was then taken to the prosecutor where an arrest was made for resisting the police" Akhan explained.

Both unionists have been moved to Kartal prison where they are being held.

Their lawyer, Serap Akkilic branded the prosecutor's arrest decision as "arbitrary and illegal" saying they would file a complaint with the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors as well as the Interior Ministry against the prosecutor and police officers. She said they would also appeal the decision of arrest as it was issued so long after the alleged offence and without any backing evidence.

Both Turkey's Revolutionary Workers Union Confederation (DISK) and the Human Rights Association (IHD) have protested the arrest and called for the unionists to be released immediately.

The IHD issued an appeal to the Labour Ministry and the government to launch an immediate investigation into these "rights abuses" and noted that when the security forces intervened, they not only used excessive force but wounded many workers.

Petrol-Is, Deri-Is and Tekstil-Sen unions also issued statements demanding the immediate release of the unionists.

Union member workers at Tuzla's DESAN Dockyard were on industrial action for over 20 years in protest of not being paid their wages for three months. (TH/II/YE)