Çiğdem Mater returned to Turkey for Gezi trial; she was arrested 'because she could flee'

Click to read the article in Turkish (1) (2) / Kurdish

Çiğdem Mater, a film producer, is one of the seven defendants who received an 18-year prison sentence in the Gezi trial.

She was arrested and sent to İstanbul's Bakırköy Women's Closed Prison after the verdict was announced on Monday (April 25).

The İstanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court cited "the suspicion that she could flee" for the arrest. However, Mater came to Turkey from Germany, where she was living, to Turkey in February to attend the hearings.

A film that she did not make is cited as a reason for her punishment. Mater previously went to Germany as part of a documentary project and was living there. In the previous hearings, notifications  for Mater were sent to a court in Germany.

CLICK - Who are the eight convicts of the Gezi case?

Statements for support

Susma Bitsin, a solidarity network established by women working in the film, television and theater industries, released a statement in support of Mater.

"In today's hearing of the Gezi case, where filmmaker Çiğdem Mater was also on trial, we once again saw how resisting male dominance and oppression and objecting to unlawfulness is punished.

"We know that this punishment arose from fear and anger and the voices of millions of people that are tried to be suppressed cannot be silenced. You punished a film that was not shot, but we are not giving up making our films and crying out what we know is the truth.

"Because we know that it will end if we don't keep quiet."

Friends of Hrant, a group founded after the assassination of journalist Hrant Dink, also released a statement in support of Mater.

It also pointed out that Mater was imprisoned despite returning to Turkey for the hearings and that she stood trial for a documentary she did not make.

"We don'T accept these unlawful decisions that disregard justice. We are with our friend Çiğdem Mater" said the statement. (HA/VK)