Journalist Necip Çapraz, concessionaire of the local Yüksekova News daily, was taken into custody at around 3.00 am on Monday morning (21 March) upon the directive of the Van Special Authority Public Chief Prosecution.

Yüksekova News is a local daily publishing in the province of Hakkari in the pre-dominantly Kurdish region of south-eastern Anatolia.

The police raided the home of journalist Çapraz in the Yeni Mahalle district in Yüksekova. After a detailed search, Çapraz was taken to the Hakkari Police Directorate.

Journalist Erkan Çapraz, the brother of Necip Çapraz, told bianet that the newspaper owner underwent a heart surgery last year and expressed his concerns about his brother's health condition.

Eleven people taken into custody

Erkan Çapraz reported that according to information he received from the Hakkari Governor, Muammer Türker, his brother and another ten people were taken into custody under allegations of "directing communal events".

Besides Necip Çapraz, also a member of the Hakkari Provincial General Assembly and municipality officials are among the group of people in custody. The suspects were subject to an interrogation at the Police Directorate and were not allowed to talk to their lawyers for 24 hours. Apparently, a decision for confidentiality was given in the context of the investigation.

Awarded, sued, attacked, litigant...

In 2005, the Contemporary Journalists Association (ÇGD) Bursa Branch rewarded Necip Çapraz with the "Press Solidarity Award" for his effective journalism made in Hakkari and the environment.

The journalist stood trial many times for the news he made. On 22 September 2005, he was attacked and heavily injured by a number of masked people. Çapraz won the case against the aggressors but applied to the Court of Appeals because of the low degree of penalty. (EÖ/VK)