CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik: 'We are heading to Çağlayan Courthouse'

Journalist Barış Pehlivan was detained on the grounds of an interview he conducted with expert witness S.B., which was previously disclosed by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. Following Pehlivan, detention warrants were also issued for Seda Selek and Serhan Asker. 

The operation against Halk TV continued today, and most recently, Editor-in-Chief Suat Toktaş and Programs Manager Kürşad Oğuz were also detained from the channel's Istanbul studio. 

CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik, who has been visiting the Halk TV Istanbul building since the night, made a statement. 

Çelik said the following: 

"We were here until the late hours of the night. We have learned of yet another unlawful decision (regarding Halk TV). As soon as we learned that Suat Toktaş and Kürşad Oğuz had been detained, we came here. Now we are heading from here to Çağlayan Courthouse. While we are here, our lawyers are already closely following the process there."

RELEASED UNDER JUDICIAL CONTROL

Following their procedures at the police station, Seda Selek was referred to the Istanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan, where a request for her release under judicial control had been made. The prosecutor decided to release Selek with a travel ban and a requirement to report to authorities. 

Serhan Asker, whose procedures were handled in Ankara, was also released under the same conditions of a travel ban and a requirement to report to authorities after his procedures were completed. 

Barış Pehlivan, meanwhile, is being held in the detention cell on the -7th floor of the Çağlayan Courthouse in Istanbul following his statement. It is expected that the statements of Halk TV Editor-in-Chief Suat Toktaş and Halk TV Programs Manager Kürşad Oğuz will be completed before a decision is rendered for Pehlivan.