The trial of 20 journalists, with two newly merged cases, to continue in November

ÖZKAN KÜÇÜK, DİYARBAKIR

The fourth hearing in the trial of 18 journalists on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization” over allegedly producing content for TV channels broadcasting abroad was held at the Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court on 9 May 2024. With the merger of the cases against director Berivan Karatorak and camera operator Mehmet Servet Yiğen, the indictments against whom were filed between hearings, the number of journalists on trial rose to 20.

Journalists Ömer Çelik, Serdar Altan, Elif Öngür, Zeynel Abidin (Rohat) Bulut, Berivan Karatorak, Esmer Tunç, Mehmet Servet Yiğen, Mehmet Şahin and Kadir Bayram, who are free pending trial, and their lawyers were present at the hearing. The journalists’ lawyer Resul Temur was accompanied by many other lawyers. One of the witnesses heard at the trial attended via the judicial videoconferencing system (SEGBİS), while the other witness was present in the courtroom. Observers from the Amsterdam Law Clinic, representatives of many journalists’ organizations, as well as colleagues of the journalists on trial observed the hearing.

At the start of the hearing, the minutes were made to reflect that a response had still not been received to the writ issued to request search and confiscation reports and that the case file had missing elements.

The hearing began with Berivan Karatorak’s defense statement. Karatorak said that she was the owner of Ari Productions and that she wanted to repeat her statement to the prosecutor’s office. Karatorak rejected the charge.

Speaking afterwards, Mehmet Servet Yiğen said he worked as a camera operator at Ari Productions, did not have any information about the other two production companies, did not have any information about whether the content they prepared was sent to TV channels abroad, and rejected the charge.

Esmer Tunç, who stated that he was working as a camera operator at Pel Productions said that he did not know the witness who was in attendance via SEGBİS and that he would not accept the charge based on this witness’ claims.

Asked for his defense statement, journalist Kadir Bayram said that he did not accept the witness’ statements, that he had not attended the demonstrations the witness mentioned and rejected the charge.

Witnesses heard

Afterwards, the court heard the witness who was brought into the courtroom. The witness, who worked as the night watchman at the building where the premises of Piya Productions and Pel Productions are located, said that the statements in the police statement were not his and that he had signed it without reading it. The witness added that he had no information about whether the production companies were producing content for Stêrk TV and Medya Haber channels. The witness said that he had asked to read the transcript of the police statement but in the end signed it without reading, after being repeatedly told by officers that it did not contain anything concerning him.

The court then heard the witness attending via SEGBİS. The witness was shown the journalists in attendance individually and asked to identify them. The witness said that he knew all of the journalists present except for three, added that the journalists he knew worked for Pel Productions and claimed that this company acted in connection with the terrorist organization. The witness said that the production companies produced content for TV channels abroad and that the journalists worked for these production companies.

Asked for the opinion as to the basis, the prosecutor for the hearing requested the completion of the missing elements in the case file.

Lawyer Temur: “The witness is a beneficiary of effective remorse, his statements should not be credited”

While the defendant journalists did not make a statement against the witness’ testimony, defense lawyer Salih Tekin said that the witness who was attending via SEGBİS was a beneficiary of effective remorse and therefore his statements should not be credited and that the claims were unfounded.

Speaking afterwards, lawyer Resul Temur said that the witness had presented his clients’ legal journalistic activities as though they were illegal in nature, that witnesses used the same template in their statements in cases against journalists in the Kurdish press and therefore the witness’ testimony should not be credited.

Lawyer Temur stated that the confiscation of the news equipment and materials belonging to the journalists was preventing them from undertaking professional activities and requested their return.

Lawyer Temur also said that some of his clients were being victimized due to not being able to see their families who live abroad and requested the lifting of the international travel ban on the journalists.

Other defense lawyers said that they would deliver a defense statement after the prosecutor presented their final opinion on the case and requested the lifting of the international travel ban on their clients as it presented an obstacle to them practicing their professional journalistic activities and had become a form of punishment.

Following a short recess before the interim order, the panel of judges read out its orders to the reconvened hearing.

The court lifted the judicial control measure of having to sign her name at police station on regular basis for Berivan Karatorak and rejected the request to remove the ban on travelling abroad for all journalists.

The court ordered the return of the confiscated digital/electronic materials of the journalists and ordered the post haste request of the search and confiscation reports concerning the month-long police search at the premises of the production companies from the Diyarbakır Chief Prosecutor’s Office and the Counter-Terrorism Branch.

The date for the next hearing was set as 19 November 2024.

Background of the case

Some production companies in Diyarbakır were raided by the police on 8 June 2022 over claims that they were shooting programs and producing content for the Stêrk TV and Medya Haber TV channels, which broadcast abroad. Several journalists, whose homes and workplaces were also searched by the police, were detained as part of the investigation. The police took a month to search the premises of the production companies.

The police presented video cameras and news materials confiscated during the searches as “evidence of terrorist organization’s activity” and provided images of these to the press.

The Diyarbakır Chief Prosecutor’s Office filed a 728-page long indictment against the 18 journalists on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization.” At the end of the first hearing held at the Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court on 11-12 July 2023, 15 Kurdish journalists and press workers were released with a ban on travelling abroad after 13 months in remand.