Russian journalist detained in Istanbul expects to be released
MOSCOW. June 15 (Interfax) - Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, who was detained near Taksim Square in Istanbul on Saturday, has been released in a courthouse, Echo of Moscow radio has reported.
"We arrived at the courthouse, sat in the lobby there for two hours, and then they removed my handcuffs. Now, as far as I understand, I am being transported back to the police station to fill up some papers, and then I will probably be released," Babchenko said in an interview broadcast by the radio station on Saturday.
It was reported earlier that Turkish special services beat and detained Babchenko near Taksim Square in Istanbul on Friday. Babchenko himself told Novaya Gazeta that he was taking pictures of empty police vehicles when people in civilian clothing approached him and categorically demanded that he stop doing this, then seized him by his arms and forced him to go with them. The journalist said the men who detained him took away his passport and other documents but did not take his telephone and allowed him to make calls.
An official from the Russian Consulate General in Istanbul told Interfax that Babchenko was likely to be deported to Russia on Saturday.