New Releases, Detentions in Lawyer Round Up Case

Selçuk Kozağaçlı, Contemporary Lawyers Association chair, has been detained right after the plane he took from Beirut landed at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport yesterday morning.

According to Ismail Saymaz from Radikal newspaper, police blocked the passenger exit as soon as the plane landed and seized the human rights lawyer in the airplane.

While police escorted Kozağaçlı to Istanbul Court, 11 out of 40 individuals prosecuted in the lawyer round up case on Friday morning have been released following their testimonies, a process that started at 4pm yesterday. The detainees were charged with "spying for foreign countries by decoding cosmic information".

CNNTürk reported that the prosecutor ordered the release of 11 individuals including Grup Yorum musicians and 2 lawyers. The remaining suspects were ordered to stand before court.

Dozens of activists gathered on the steps of the courthouse from early morning to show their support to detained human rights lawyers and musicians. A team of heavily armed police entered the courthouse to intervene the activists, which was protested by the detainees lawyers (EKN/ÇT/BM)