Mother sitting next to me pointed at her son. ‘That’s my son, the apple of my eye.’

Families of the remand defendants want to get a glimpse of their children. They were just brought handcuffed into the courtroom. They are surrounded by gendarmes.

Handcuffs are being taken off, to the metal sound of the keys. The courtroom is packed.

They were not given enough food or water. ‘Their lips were all dry from lack of water. They were told toilet would be at guards pleasure. My son is very tall, he was put in a space he couldn’t stand straight in. They were subjected to white light. The young ones were all crying.’

Hearing yet to start. We are waiting for the arrival of 14 defendants who are on remand in Marmara (formerly Silivri) prison on insulting the president charge. Sitting next to the mother of one of them who is telling me how terrible the 4 days in police custody was…

The most striking element of the baseless prosecution is the fact that a large number of the accused were detained days after the protests from their homes, clearly having dispersed and gone home!

There is no evidence that warnings were made.