Court sentenced jailed reporter Mehmet Baransu to 13 years in prison; former executives Ahmet Altan, Yasemin Çongar and Yıldıray Oğur were each given 3 years and 4 months

CANSU PİŞKİN, ISTANBUL 

Former executives of the now-defunct Taraf newspaper Ahmet Altan, Yasemin Çongar and Yıldıray Oğur and the jailed reporter Mehmet Baransu were sentenced to a total of 23 years in prison on charges of exposing state secrets, at the end of a long-running trial that was concluded on 4 March 2022.

The four journalists were on trial for allegedly acquiring and publishing in the newspaper a confidential war plan called “Egemen (Sovereign) Operation Plan," although much of the press coverage about the case claimed it was about the publication of the so-called “Sledgehammer” documents falsely alleging a coup plot by some of the military brass in 2010. Baransu has been in pre-trial detention since March 2015 as part of the case. The first court hearing in the trial was held in 2016.

On Friday, the court brought the case to a close despite the fact that Baransu and his lawyer did not present their final defense statements in response to the charges leveled by the prosecution. At the start of the hearing, Baransu and his lawyer Çiğdem Koç reiterated several requests they made for further examination of the evidence and addition of new evidence into the case file, including the full footage of a police search conducted in Baransu’s house and the documents included in a case file in the trial of judges and prosecutors involved in the Sledgehammer trials before the Supreme Court of Appeals.

Baransu, lawyer left the courtroom

Lawyer Koç said that the court’s earlier rejection of the request for inclusion of the footage of the police search in Baransu’s house constituted a violation of the right to fair trial. “All our requests have been turned down without all the evidence having been collected and without any valid ground,” Koç said. She further said that she and Baransu would leave the courtroom unless their requests for further examination of evidence are heard by the court. “I will leave this room so I don’t become an accomplice in this crime,” she said.

Baransu, addressing the court after his lawyer, also reiterated their requests for the inclusion of documents from the Supreme Court of Appeals case and the full recording of the police search of his house. “Isn’t it court’s objective to uncover the truth? Then why do you protect the police officers who had committed a crime? Why don’t you give the search recordings?” he asked. He also claimed that the co-plaintiffs in the case had nothing to do with the case and asked the court to revoke their co-plaintiff status.

“I demand that my requests be accepted because I believe I should be given a fair trial. I request that the prosecutor revise his final opinion on the case. If my requests are rejected, I will ask for your permission to go back to prison. I will not be a part of the unlawfulness,” Baransu said.

Following Baransu and his lawyer’s statements, the prosecutor asked the court to reject their requests for examination of further evidence and repeated his final opinion, presented to the court back in June 2021. In the final opinion, the prosecutor sought conviction for Baransu on three charges: “Systematically destroying or damaging documents relating to the security, or domestic or foreign political interests of the State” under Article 326 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK); “Obtaining information that, due to its nature, is to be kept confidential for reasons relating to the security, or domestic or foreign political interests of the State” (TCK 327); and “Disclosing information that, due to its nature, must be kept confidential for reasons relating to the security, or domestic or foreign political interests of the State” (TCK 329). He also demanded conviction for Altan, Çongar and Oğur on the charge of “Disclosing confidential information” (TCK 329) and the separation of the file against Opçin, who is at large.

The court then rejected requests by Baransu and lawyer Koç for examination of further evidence, following which Baransu and Koç left the courtroom without presenting their defense statements.

After Baransu and his lawyer’s departure, the presiding judge announced that the court was to announce its verdict in the case and gave the floor to other statements.  

Lawyer Figen Albuga Çalıkuşu, who represent Ahmet Altan and Yasemin Çongar, called for the acquittal of her clients, saying there was no evidence anywhere in the case file indicating that the Egemen Operation Plan was in fact published. Altan, Çongar and Oğur have already submitted their final defense statements to the court in previous hearings, rejecting the accusations. 

The verdict

The court then went on to announce its verdict in the long-running case, sentencing Baransu to a total of 13 years for obtaining and exposing secret documents under Article 327 of the TCK (6 years) and under Article 329 (7 years). The court refused to apply any clause allowing reduction in the sentence and ordered that Baransu remain in pre-trial detention.

Former Taraf executives Ahmet Altan, Yasemin Çongar and Yıldıray Oğur were each sentenced to 3 years and 4 months for “obtaining” secret documents under Article 327 of the TCK. The case is now expected to be taken to appeal courts.