26/10/2023 | Writer: Selma Koçak
Bülent Kılıç, who won his compensation claim against the police officers who used violence against him at the İstanbul LGBTI+ Pride march in 2021, will appear before a judge on charges of “using force or threat against a public official to prevent him from performing his duty”.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) photojournalist Bülent Kılıç, who was detained during the 2021 Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride march, faces the judge in the case, in which the police officers who pressed down on his throat and prevented him from breathing are the “complainants”.
The prosecutor, who had issued a decision not to prosecute Kılıç’s complaint against the police officers who tortured him, had also prepared an indictment against Kılıç on the same day as the decision.
The prosecutor claimed that Kılıç “prevented a public official from carrying out his duty by trying to hit him with his camera more than once and by insulting him repeatedly; and since the suspect resisted the police officers in order to prevent them from performing their duty, there’s enough evidence to question him in order to open a criminal case against him for having committed successive offences”.
In his statement, Kılıç remarked that he was subjected to physical and psychological violence, that there is a medical report in the file, that he doesn't accept the accusations and that they are lies and that he is a complainant. The first hearing of the case will be held at the Istanbul 19th Criminal Court of First Instance on Thursday, 26 October at 9:40 am.
The Media and Law Studies Association, defending Kılıç, has called on the public to support him.
Kılıç won compensation claim
Lawyers for Kılıç, who was handcuffed behind his back and caught on camera as the police squeezed his throat, have filed a lawsuit seeking compensation. The Istanbul 8th Administrative Court ruled that the police officers “exceeded their authorization to use force and used disproportionate force in detaining the journalist, and in this respect an error occurred”.
The appeal of two police officers against the court’s decision ordering Kılıç to pay a total of 30,995 TL in compensation was examined by the 9th Administrative Appeals Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Administrative Court, which confirmed the decision in Kılıç's favour.
According to the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) co-director Veysel OK, one of Kılıç's lawyers, said the decision set a precedent.
Tags: human rights, media
