Father of Loup Bureau calls for reason from Turkish authorities

Father of Loup Bureau calls for reason from Turkish authorities
The journalist’s father indicated having had news of his son on Thursday via his lawyer Maître Pradel, and stated that his Turkish counterpart heading up the case had wanted to see Loup in prison.

The father of Loup Bureau, the independent French journalist imprisoned in Turkey, hopes that local authorities will rapidly realise their mistake. Loïc Bureau asserted on France Bleu radio, “My son does not support the Kurds, and is still less a terrorist. He is just a young journalist.”

Loup Bureau, who has in particularly collaborated with the French channel TV5 Monde and is still a journalism student at IHECS (College of Journalism and Communication) in Brussels, was stopped and questioned last week at the border crossing Habur between Iraq and Turkey. He was then imprisoned by local authorities, which suspected him of “terrorist” activities in connection with Syrian Kurdish fighters.

The journalist’s father indicated having had news of his son on Thursday via his lawyer Maître Pradel, and stated that his Turkish counterpart heading up the case had wanted to see Loup in prison. His father stated on France Bleu that the latter is being held within “correct” conditions having an individual cell, a English-speaking warden and possible “access to a library.”

In a communiqué sent on Thursday evening to AFP, his lawyers, Martin Pradel and Rusen Aytac, has stated that Loup Bureau had been indicted by a judge who considered him as a suspect belonging to an “armed terrorist organisation” and this despite his denials.

They said, “In the course of interrogations to which he was subject, he was reproached for a report in 2013 on the living conditions of civilian communities in Northrn Syria...Loup Bureau, during his detention and before the judge, confirmed his presence in Syria for strictly professional reasons. He stressed that contacts with protagonists in Syria are necessary for his work as a journalist, and that the images which he has been asked to explain date back to the era of the filming of this report.”

The journalist’s lawyers stressed the “urgency” of his being set free, “The exceptionally summary nature of the procedure implemented is worrying whilst Turkey very often considers as terrorists journalists who are independently and courageously doing their job.”


The Brussels Times


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