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Turkey

Footage of lawyer tortured by Erdogan’s guards reveal no insult on president

In 2017, Erdogan’s guards attacked pro-Kurdish protesters during the president’s visit to Washington.

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There are no insults that were established in the footage taken when presidential guards assaulted a lawyer who asked reasons for a roadblock on Ciragan Street.

The lawyer, after the assault went public, was initially accused of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by the guards.

According to a report from Can Bursali of Arti Gercek, the footage shows lawyer Sertug Surenoglu asking: “Is it appropriate to do this just for a wedding?” in reference to the roadblocks on the Ciragan Street.

Surenoglu is seen being dragged towards a wall by the presidential guards and traffic police to be detained by police officers soon afterward.

The footage shows no scenes where the lawyer runs towards President Erdogan’s car and insults him, as the Istanbul public prosecutor first claimed in a statement released after the incident.

On April 13, police had halted the traffic in a busy street of Istanbul during the wedding ceremony of Yelda Demiroren, the daughter of Yildirim Demiroren of Demiroren Holding, and Haluk Kalyoncu, the Kalyon Group’s vice-chairman of the Board, children of two prominent families from Erdogan’s inner circle.

The families, known to be close to Erdogan, own some of the most followed tabloid newspapers and private TV channels in Turkey, including Posta daily, ATV and Kanal D.

Speaking to Arti TV, Surenoglu said presidential guards tortured him in the car in front of the Ciragan Palace for more than an hour.

“I was then forced to sign a statement declaring I insulted the president before they handed me over to the police in Besiktas district,” the lawyer added.

An Istanbul court sentenced Surenoglu to house arrest the next day after he was detained overnight.

The tortured lawyer appealed his house arrest sentence so as to go to the hospital to continue his treatment, but it was rejected by the Istanbul 7th Criminal Court of Peace.

In 2017, Erdogan’s guards attacked pro-Kurdish protesters during the president’s visit to Washington.

The guards will be arrested if they ever set foot on American soil again because of a case launched against them by American legal authorities in the wake of the incident.

In a similar incident in 2016, video footage on social media showed Erdogan’s niece, the head of the presidential guards, threatening some motorists in Istanbul.

Source: ipa

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