On May 31, the anniversary of the Gezi Resistance, nine journalists on news follow-up were battered and six journalists were detained in rear handcuffs. The Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS) and the DİSK Press Union applied to the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on June 3, 2022 and filed a criminal complaint against the related police officers on charges of “misconduct in office” (as per the Article 257/1 of the Turkish Penal Code / TCK), “torture and torment” (TCK 94/1), “threat” (TCK 106/1), “insult” (TCK 125), “wilful injury” (TCK 86) and “violation of freedom to work and labor” (TCK 117).

Upon this criminal complaint, the prosecutor’s office wrote to the İstanbul Governor’s Office to identify the suspected public officers and to give a permission for an investigation.

In the reply sent to the prosecutor’s office with the signature of İstanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya on August 1, 2022, it was alleged that the officers could not be identified. It was also indicated that there was no need for a permission for an investigation or for a disciplinary investigation and decided that the file be taken off process (September 19).