Human Rights Committee May Investigate Bal’s Ordeal

Abdurrahman Kurt, Diyarbakır deputy of the Justice and Development Party (AKP)and the spokesperson for the Human Rights Investigation Committee, said that the committee would look into the case of the conscientious objector Mehmet Bal, who was arrested on Sunday night (June 8) for “constant insistence on disobeying orders”, when petitioned by the victim.

Kurt, whom Bianet interviewed about the subject, also added that even if not petitioned, the committee would still be able to start an investigation on their own account once informed about the subject.

Mehmet Bal, a conscientious objector, who announced his conscientious objection during his nine and a half month long military service, left his unit, and later acquitted of the accusation of “disobeying orders and alienating people from military service”, was arrested by police at Arnavutköy in Istanbul on Sunday (June 8).

Bal has been on hunger strike to protest the violence and pressure to which he was subjected during his initial detention in the gendarmerie station. (NZ/EZÖ/TB)