Relatives, friends and neighbours of Selmir Masetovic, arrested in Turkey because of alleged links to the Gulenist movement, took to the streets of his hometown Gradacac to call for his release.
Around 100 Bosnians gathered on Monday in the town of Gradacac to protest about Turkey’s arrest of Selmir Masetovic, including the detained student’s relatives, friends, neighbours and the local mayor.
Masetovic, a 21-year-old student at the University of Usak, was arrested last month in the western Turkish city, accused of being part of a network led by exiled cleric Fetullah Gulen, who Ankara believes was behind the failed coup in the country in July 2016.
“My son Selmir is not a ‘Gulenist’,” his father Husein Masetovic was quoted as saying by IBNA.
“At the time of the coup in Turkey, my son was at home in Bosnia and Herzegovina and had nothing to do with the events there,” he added.
Masetovic said that his son has received legal assistance in Turkey and thanked a Bosnian businessman, who wants to remain anonymous, for agreeing to finance the student’s defence, but complained of a lack of information about the case.
“I still do not know anything about my son’s situation and I want to speak with him on the phone and to see what he needs most,” he said, Bosnian newspaper Dnevni Avaz reported.
The mayor of Gradacac, Edis Dervisagic, visited the Masetovic family before attending Monday’s protest.
Dervisagic told media that the municipal board was convened last week and discussed ways of assisting the family.
“The municipality must find a way to help our fellow citizen Selmir Masetovic and his family. We will always be in contact with them,” Mayor Dervisagic was quoted as saying.
According to the prosecutor’s office in Usak, Masetovic was using Bylock, an encrypted messaging application which the Turkish authorities claim is utilised by Gulenists for secret conversations.
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