Musician Keşkek Arrested in İzmir for 15 Months Without Hearing

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Ceren Çetinel Keşkek, the wife of musician and former Grup Yorum member Cihan Keşkek, who was taken into custody three days after he got married and was arrested afterwards, has sent a letter to bianet about the detention and judicial process of her husband.

Musician Cihan Keşkek, who has been arrested in the Aliağa Prison in İzmir for 15 months, has not had his first hearing yet as the court ruled that the files of two lawsuits issued against him shall be combined.

They realized that he was tried on the same charge

In her letter to bianet, Ceren Çetinel Keşkek has stated that her husband Cihan Keşkek actually wanted to write to bianet himself but he could not send a letter due to the constantly imposed communication bans.

About her husband Cihan Keşkek, against whom an indictment was filed seven months after his arrest and whose first hearing was supposed to be held five months later, Çetinel Keşkek has written:

"Shortly before his first hearing was to be held, they realized that the charges brought against him in this case and the ones brought against him in another lawsuit, where he was tried without being arrested, are the same. Upon seeing this, they wanted to combine his case files.

"In the other lawsuit, he had been tried without arrest for three years. Though there has been no change in either of the case files, he has been arrested pending trial in the second case.

"And, what is interesting is that he has not had a single hearing yet. He has not been able to express himself even for once. We are writing letters, we know that the court board has to listen to him, but, it is to no avail."

The first hearing of Cihan Keşkek, who has been tried on charge of "being a member of a terrorist organization", will be held at the İstanbul 29th Heavy Penal Court in March 2019, which means that he will stand before the court one and a half year after his arrest.

His house was raided three days after getting married

In her previous letter to bianet, Ceren Çetinel Keşkek recounted the process of detention and arrest of his husband as follows:

"On September 30, 2017, we held a little celebration with our friends and families and got married. 1st day... 2nd day... 3rd day... At 2.20 a.m., our door was knocked. They took Cihan. I will not touch upon what happened on that night and how since many people have been going through similar things. Cihan was detained for nine days. He was arrested on October 12." (AS/SD)