Conscientious Objector Halil Savda was taken into police custody at the Atatürk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday (6 December).

Savda was on his way to Paris upon an invitation of Amnesty International (AI). The custody is supposedly based on a violation of Article 318 of the Turkish Criminal Law (TCK) related to "alienating the public from the military".

bianet talked to lawyer Davut Erkan. He said that Savda was convicted of a breach of Article 318 TCK and that the sentence was upheld by the Court of Appeals. The charges stemmed from a speech Savda delivered at a press conference organized in solidarity with an Israeli conscientious objector. Lawyer Erkan expressed his opinion that Savda was probably taken into custody by reason of his conviction.

Conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan claimed that Savda was arrested after he was taken in custody at the airport.

Tarhan also said that Savda did not have a lawyer yet and that they were working on solving this problem.

Savda under surveillance the whole night

Lawyer Efan Bolaç of the Bakırköy (Istanbul) Courthouse explained that Savda was kept in custody at the Atatürk Airport at the night from Tuesday to Wednesday (6/7 December) because they were waiting for the necessary documents to be sent by the Eskişehir 4^th Magistrate Criminal Court.

Savda will be taken to the Bakırköy Courthouse once the necessary documents will have arrived. Bolaç assumed that he will be released after having given his statement at court. The lawyer mentioned that a decision for "arrest in absentia" was given about Savda because he had failed to give his statement in the trial pending against him. (EKN/VK)