Saakashvili ‘detained’ in absentia

August 3, 2014 By administrator

Tbilisi City Court accepted prosecution’s motion and ordered pre-trial detention of former President Mikheil Saakashvili in absentia,Civil.ge reported.

Preliminary court hearing – the stage when a presiding judge, among other issues, decides on the admissibility of evidence submitted by the parties – has been set for September 22.

Prosecutor’s office has charged Saakashvili with exceeding official powers in connection to break up of the anti-government protest rallies on November 7, 2007, and raid on and “seizure” of Imedi TV station.

“Ahead of the August war [six-year] anniversary Putin could not have imagined more desirable present than Georgian authorities ordering my arrest,” Saakashvili said in a video address from the US, released on August 1 before the court’s ruling was announced after midnight on Saturday.

“This will be one of the most shameful pages of Georgia’s history,” he said.

“I am not going to turn up upon summoning of prosecutor’s office, controlled by Gazprom shareholder [referring to Georgia’s ex-PM Bidzina Ivanishvili] – I will be very far whenever they summon me, but I will be very close when the Georgian people call me,” Saakashvili said.

Turkey: At least 52 police officers detained in ‘parallel state’ probe in Turkey

July 21, 2014 By administrator

ISTANBUL

The police officers detained include Istanbul Police Department’s former anti-terror unit chief Yurt Atayün. AA Photo

Dozens of high-ranking police officials were detained in simultaneous operations conducted in 22 provinces of Turkey early July 22 as part of an investigation into accusations against the “parallel state.”

At least 40 people were detained in Istanbul on accusations of spying, illegal wiretapping and fraud in official documents. At least 12 people were detained in a separate operation targeting former intelligence department officials, for allegedly conducting illegal surveillance.

There are detention orders for a total of 134 suspects, CNNTürk reported.

Most of the detained suspects were in key positions during the Dec. 17, 2013, probe into allegations of graft and corruption, which targeted prominent businessmen, civil servants and four ex-ministers.

Among the suspects detained are Yurt Atayün, former head of the Istanbul police’s anti-terror department, Ömer Köse, head of the anti-terror department at the time of the Dec. 17, 2013 operation, as well as former deputy police chiefs Kazım Aksoy, Ramazan Candan and Gafur Ataç. Aksoy was expelled from the police force following the Dec. 17 operation during which he was a part of the financial crimes department, while Köse was suspended after the same incident.

The operation is considered as part of the government’s fight against the Fethullah Gülen movement, which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accuses of creating a “parallel state within the state.”

Speaking in a televised interview July 21, Erdoğan said he would not back down from his bid to “clean up the state.”

Erdoğan also said he expected the United States “to have a stance” on Gülen, who resides in Pennsylvania.

“I told [U.S. President Barack] Obama and he said he understood,” the prime minister said. “Of course, the judicial rulings are important. When we have a Red Notice, he will not be able to stay where he is.”

July/22/2014

Turkish Police detain CNN correspondent, injure Italian journalist (Video)

June 1, 2014 By administrator

TODAYSZAMAN.COM / ISTANBUL

Riot police allegedly detained CNN’s İstanbul correspondent Ivan Watson and his crew and a freelance journalist from Italy was injured when he was hit by a tear gas canister.

According to reports, the events happened on Saturday during protests staged to mark the anniversary of last year’s massive anti-government Gezi protests.

“Turkish police detained me and my crew in the middle of a live report in Taksim Square. One officer kneed me in the butt,” Watson said in a tweet on Saturday. Other reports say that the CNN crew was not formally detained but was prevented from staying on the air.

In Ankara, freelance journalist and photographer Piero Castellano was hit in the chest by a tear gas canister fired by police, according to a report published on the news site sendika.org. The report said Castellano was in good condition.

Turkish Journalists’ Federation (TGF) on Sunday issued a statement harshly condemning attacks on members of the press covering the anniversary of the Gezi demonstrations. Its President Atila Sertel, referring to Watson’s detention on live television, said, “The police of this state do not recognize the press card issued by the Directorate General of Press and Information [BYEGM] of the Prime Ministry, recognized all around the world.” In CNN’s footage showing police intervention to Watson’s crew, Watson can be seen showing his yellow press card to the police, who continued to manhandle him.

Sertel said many members of the press had been prevented from doing their job by the police on Saturday. Sertel, who is also a member of the Press Cards Commission, said: “If this is going to go on, if reporters will be prevented from performing their duties, these press cards we carry don’t mean a thing. If that is the case, we are ready to return our press cards. On the other hand, if journalists fail to stand together on professional ethics and the freedom to perform their job, they should be ashamed.”

Saturday was May 31, the first anniversary of the broad anti-government protests that lasted for more than a month last year in many cities across Turkey that started as a sit-in protest against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s plan to build a shopping mall over Gezi Park in İstanbul.

Police cracked down heavily on protesters. At least 120 people were detained in İstanbul alone and over a dozen were injured on Saturday during police interventions in the demonstrations. So far, there have been reports of violence against only two members of the press.