'Leave the city' threat after 16 detentions, 12 trials 

2022-10-15 10:39:53


	 

	BATMAN - HDP Youth Council Member Vedat Özer, who was detained 16 times in two years and 12 lawsuits were filed against him, was threatened to leave the city with his mother during his house raid. Özer filed a criminal complaint against the police officers on duty.

	 

	Vedat Özer (25), a young man living in Batman, has been subjected to systematic attacks by state forces since 2015. Özer was detained and arrested on the allegation of "being a member in a terrorist organization" when he was a child on December 9, 2015. In the case brought against him, he was sentenced to 6 years and 3 imprisonment on the same grounds. Özer completed his sentence and was released on October 29, 2020. Özer, who took part in HDP youth work after his release, was detained 7 times in Batman, 4 times in Diyarbakır, 3 times in Istanbul and 2 times in Ankara. 12 lawsuits were filed against Özer on charges of "being a member in a terrorist organisation" 2 times, "insulting the president" 2 times, "making propaganda for a terrorist organization" 6 times, "aiding the organization" and "inciting the public to hatred and enmity". While the case files are continuing from the heavy penal courts in Batman, Diyarbakır, Istanbul and Ankara, the courts have not combined the case files so far.

	 

	Özer made evaluations about the systematic attacks against him. Noting that he did not and will not take a step back against detention, arrest and the files opened against him, Özer said that he would not back down in the face of the police's threat of "Leave the city".

	 

	'WE WILL NOT BOW DOWN'

	 

	Özer said: "On March 12, 2022, during the Newroz works, my road was blocked by a white vehicle. While I was returning from Newroz, they blocked me by car and threatened me. They grabbed my hair and did a body search and GBT. We applied to the İHD and the prosecutor's office regarding this incident. We made a press release. After that day, they did not bother me, but a week ago they raided our house and asked us to migrate. They threatened my mother and said to her that she should take me out of Batman, out of this city. I was tortured on the way while being detained. We are facing a situation that goes beyond the 90s. They were evacuating villages before, now they want to evacuate both villages and cities. However We will not bow down. Just as the policies of the 90s did not work, these policies will not work either. We do not leave our city, our neighborhood, our land."

	 

	APPLICATION TO İHD AND PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE  

	 

	Özer, who applied to the İHD and Batman Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding the raids and death threats on their homes, noted that the police would be responsible if anything happened to him.

	 

	MA / Fethi Balaman