Courts sentence journalists Berivan Altan and Durket Süren on “terror” charges; merged Gezi and Çarşı retrials separated; writer Gökhan Yavuzel charged with “insulting the president” in new indictment

 

Journalist Berivan Altan sentenced on “terror” charges

 

The 30th hearing of a trial in which 10 people, including journalist Berivan Altan, were charged with “membership in a terrorist organization,” “terrorism propaganda” and “possession of dangerous substances” was held in Mersin 2nd High Criminal Court on 25 February 2022.

 

Reiterating their final opinion, presented at the hearing held on 18 February, the prosecutor demanded that the defendants be sentenced.

 

Delivering its judgment at the end of the hearing, the court sentenced Altan to 6 years and 3 months in prison on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization” and 10 months in prison for “terrorism propaganda.” The court deferred the 10-month sentence.

 

Journalist Ferhat Parlak faces investigation for December 2021 report

 

An investigation was launched against journalist Ferhat Parlak for reporting about a child who fell into a manhole that was left without a cover in Diyarbakır’s Silvan district and got injured. Parlak’s report was published on 18 December 2021. The investigation was launched upon a complaint filed by the lawyer representing the local Silvan Municipality on the allegations of “insult” and “targeting a state official.”

 

Trial against Sadiye Eser and 33 others adjourned until June

 

The 20th hearing of a trial in which 34 people, including former Mezopotamya news agency reporter Sadiye Eser, are charged with “membership in a terrorist organization” and “terrorism propaganda” was held at the Istanbul 6th High Criminal Court on 25 February 2022.

 

Eser did not attend the hearing. The court decided to wait for the execution of the arrest warrants issued for five defendants and adjourned the case until 15 June 2022.

 

“İlave TV” crew attacked in Antalya

 

Arif Kocabıyık, who broadcasts street interviews on his YouTube channel “İlave TV,” and his cameraman were attacked by a group of about 10 people while they were shooting interviews in Antalya on 24 February 2022.

 

Kocabıyık wrote on his Twitter account that the group who called themselves nationalists first verbally assaulted and threatened and then physically attacked them. Kocabıyık said he will file a complaint about the attackers.

 

Trial against journalists Tunççelik and Coşkun and 11 others begins

 

The trial against journalists İrfan Tunççelik and Ümit Turhan Coşkun and 11 people from the Peace Mothers Initiative on the charge of “violating the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations” and “committing an offense on behalf of a criminal organization” began at Istanbul’s 23rd High Criminal Court on 24 February 2022. The journalists are on trial for covering a demonstration organized in front of the Bakırköy Women’s Prison in Istanbul in connection with hunger strikes in prisons in 2018.

 

Journalists who wanted to cover the hearing were removed from the courtroom on the grounds of Covid-19. After hearing the defendants’ statements, the court heard two police officers as witnesses. The officers told the court that they did not remember the incident.

 

The court decided to request security camera footage from the day of the demonstration. Ruling to lift the defendants’ ban on leaving the country and to return the journalists their confiscated digital equipment, the court postponed the case until 28 June 2022.

 

Seven arrested in investigation into journalist Güngör Arslan’s murder

 

Five people were arrested as part of the investigation into the murder of journalist Güngör Arslan, bringing the total number of detainees in the investigation to seven, Turkish media reported on 24 February 2022.

 

Arslan, the publisher and chief editor of the local news portal Ses Kocaeli, was attacked by a gunman at his workplace on 19 February 2022. He died shortly after being hospitalized with serious injuries from two gunshots he received on his right leg and another on his chest.

 

Following the attack, suspect Ramazan Ö., who was caught with the murder weapon, was arrested. A second suspect was arrested later on suspicion that he could be involved in the murder. Two other suspects were released under judicial control measures.

In his last article, published one day before his murder, Arslan claimed that Kocaeli Mayor Tahir Büyükakın had allocated a housing project to his close friend who owns a construction company.

 

VOA, DW and Euronews refuse to apply for broadcasting licenses

 

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) published three notifications on its website on 21 February 2022, formalizing its decision earlier this month that three international media outlets with Turkish services, Voice of America (VOA), Deutsche Welle (DW) and Euronews, should apply for broadcasting licenses.

 

Starting from the day of the notification, the three news outlets were given 72 hours to apply for licenses. In separate statements issued on 22 February, DW and VOA said they will not apply for broadcasting licenses and will file lawsuits against the decision.

 

The 72-hour period expired on 24 February. News outlets that do not apply for licenses will not be accessible in Turkey, RTÜK had said earlier. RTÜK member İlhan Taşçı announced on Twitter on 24 February that none of the three news organizations applied for a license. Taşçı explained that RTÜK will now file a request with a Criminal Judgeship of Peace seeking the blocking of access to the three websites, and that if the judge accepts the request, the news outlets will be able to appeal the decision with a higher court.

 

RTÜK’s decision is based on a regulation that came into force in August 2019. The regulation stipulates that online television and on-demand broadcasts obtain a broadcast license from RTÜK. The three news outlets were required to obtain licenses because of news videos featured on their websites.

 

Court merges trials against Kibriye Evren

 

The trial against journalist Kibriye Evren on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” was held at the  5th High Criminal Court on 24 February 2022.

 

Evren did not attend the hearing. She was represented by her lawyers Pirozhan Karali and Resul Temur.

 

Stating that there is more than one case file against his client with the same accusations, lawyer Temur requested that the files be merged.

The prosecutor requested that the files be merged due to legal and de facto connection between the current case and the file against Evren launched in Mersin.

 

Delivering its judgment, the court decided to merge the case file with the file overseen by the Mersin 2nd High Criminal Court, without first seeking the other court’s consent for a joinder decision.

 

Vice News trial adjourned until May

 

The 13th hearing of the trial agianst British journalists Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury, their Iraqi translator Mohammed Ismael Rasool and their driver Abdurrahman Direkçi on terrorism-related charges was held at the Diyarbakır 8th High Criminal Court on 24 February 2022.

 

Pendlebury is charged with “membership in a terrorist organization by willingly aiding the organization” and Hanrahan, Rasool and Direkçi are charged with “Breaching the Law on the Prevention of the Financing of Terrorism,” “terrorism propaganda” and “membership in a terrorist organization by willingly aiding the organization.” Hanrahan, Pendlebury and Rasool were arrested in Diyarbakır in 2015 while shooting a documentary for Vice News. All three were subsequently released.

 

The journalists’ lawyers said that their clients’ statements were taken by the British judicial authorities on 5 January 2022. The lawyers asked the court to wait for the submission of the statements. Ruling to wait for the submission of the statements, the court adjourned the case until 26 May 2022.

 

Group attempts to attack Korkusuz columnist Bayraktaroğlu

 

Memduh Bayraktaroğlu, a columnist for Korkusuz newspaper, announced that a group of 5 or 6 people attempted to raid his house at around midnight on 23 February 2022. Bayraktaroğlu said the group, who were carrying bats and whose faces were covered with white cloth, attempted to break into his house.

 

Bayraktaroğlu said that the group ran away after he called the gendarmerie and asked for help. Recalling that he was recently threatened on social media by the leader of the Gray Wolves, which is affiliated with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Bayraktaroğlu stated that he would file a complaint against MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli.

 

Investigation against MA Editor Ferhat Çelik dismissed

 

An investigation launched by the Gaziantep Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against Mezopotamya News Agency’s Managing Editor Ferhat Çelik on the allegation of “terrorism propaganda” due to a number of reports the agency published between August 2020 and September 2020 has been dismissed.

 

Çelik was taken into custody in Istanbul on 4 January 2022 as part of the investigation. He was released under a ban on leaving the country by the court he was referred to the next day.

 

Trial against Hüseyin Aykol and Reyhan Çapan adjourned

 

In the 22nd hearing of a case in which Özgür Gündem newspaper’s former Co-Editor-in-Chief Hüseyin Aykol and former Managing Editor Reyhan Çapan as well as several guest columnists are charged with “terrorism propaganda” (TMK 7/2) and “praising an offense or an offender” (TCK 215) was held at the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court on 23 February 2022. Aykol and Çapan’s lawyers did not attend the hearing. The court adjourned the case until 10 May 2022.

 

Gökhan Yavuzel charged with “insulting the president” in new case

 

A new indictment was issued against Kurdish writer Gökhan Yavuzel, a PEN International member, on the charge of “insulting the president” (TCK 299) for a social media post in which he reacted to the murder of Deniz Poyraz in an attack on the HDP İzmir provincial building in June 2021. The Şanlıurfa 4th Criminal Court of First Instance accepted the indictment and set 10 May 2022 as the date for the first hearing of the case.

 

Vildan Atmaca released after spending one week in custody

 

Freelance journalist Vildan Atmaca, who was taken into custody along with local politicians from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in dawn raids carried out in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district on 15 February 2022, was brought to the Istanbul Courthouse on 22 February 2022 following the completion of procedures at the Police Department.

 

Nine of the 11 people whose statements were taken at the prosecutor’s office, including journalist Atmaca, were released under judicial control measures by the judgeship they were referred to.

 

The detainees were reportedly questioned by the police about demonstrations they participated, donations, Newroz activities, press statements and the commemoration organized for Deniz Poyraz, who was murdered in HDP İzmir provincial building in June 2021.

 

“Insult” and “libel” case against Yetkin Yıldız adjourned until June

 

The 20th hearing of journalist Yetkin Yıldız’s trial on charges of “insult” (TCK 125) and “libel” (TCK 267) over an article published on the news portal Aktif Haber on 23 July 2015 was held at the Bakırköy 31st Criminal Court of First Instance on 22 February 2022.

 

The case was launched in 2016 based on a complaint filed by former Interior Minister Efkan Ala. The accusations stem from a news article titled “Fuat Avni Suruç patlaması ile ilgili Twitter’dan çarpıcı mesajlar paylaştı” (striking remarks by Fuat Avni concerning the Suruç bombing).

 

Based on a previous decision by the Bakırköy court, the sentence Yıldız was given in 2018 in the case publicly known as the “FETÖ media trial” is a prejudicial question in this case. The sentence Yıldız was given in that trial has been reversed by the Supreme Court of Appeals and his retrial is ongoing. The Bakırköy court decided to wait for Yıldız’s retrial to be concluded and set 28 June 2022 as the date for the next hearing.

 

“KCK press trial” adjourned until June

 

The “KCK Press trial,” in which 46 journalists and media workers face various “terrorism” related charges, resumed at the Istanbul 3rd High Criminal Court on 22 February 2022. This was the 24th hearing of the trial, which has been dragging on since 2012.

 

P24 monitored the hearing. The lawyers representing the defendants were in attendance. The court reviewed the minutes of previous hearings due to a change of judges.

 

Çağdaş Ulus’s lawyer Mehtap Acar Ulus stated that the evidence about her client had been collected and demanded the separation of the file against Ulus. Rawin Sterk’s lawyer Sercan Korkmaz requested that his client’s phone, which was confiscated as part of an investigation on the charge of “terrorism propaganda,” be returned.

 

Rejecting both requests, the court decided to wait for the execution of the arrest warrant issued against İsmet Kayhan and adjourned the case until 9 June 2022.

 

The 46 press members on trial were detained on 20 December 2011 in a sweeping raid targeting the now-defunct Dicle news agency, Özgür Gündem, Azadiya Welat, and Demokratik Modernite newspapers, and the distribution company Fırat Dağıtım. Among them, 32 were jailed pending trial on 24 December 2011. The jailed defendants have since been released. The indictment accuses the journalists over their journalistic work.

 

“Bloomberg case” sent to prosecutor’s office for final opinion

 

A trial in which Bloomberg journalists Fercan Yalınkılıç and Kerim Karakaya stand accused of “violating the Capital Market Law” over an August 2018 news story, in which they reported about Turkey’s currency crisis at the time, continued at Istanbul’s 3rd Criminal Court of First Instance on 22 February 2022.

 

Yalınkılıç and Karakaya are on trial alongside 36 others who commented on or shared the report on social media. Among them are journalists Sedef Kabaş, Merdan Yanardağ and Orhan Kalkan as well as economist and columnist Mustafa Sönmez.

 

P24 monitored the hearing, which marked the eighth hearing of the case. Some of the defendants were in attendance as well as lawyers representing the defendants and those representing the Banking Regulation and Supervision Board (BDDK) and the Capital Markets Board (SPK).

 

The defendants who were present at the hearing stated that the social media posts subject to the accusation were meant to criticize the government's economic policy and not aimed at obtaining material benefits.

 

Karakaya and Yalınkılıç’s lawyer Köksal Bayraktar stated that both expert reports about his clients determined that no provisions of the Capital Market Law or the Banking Law had been violated. “My clients are journalists. They made an objective report to inform the public. The expert reports also found that there had been no increase of funds in the bank accounts of my clients,” Bayraktar said, demanding Karakaya and Yalınkılıç’s acquittal.

 

The lawyers representing the other defendants reiterated their previous statements and demanded the acquittal of their clients on the grounds that they did not intend to commit a crime.

 

In its interim ruling, the court decided to separate the file against five defendants who face arrest warrants as part of the case. Ruling to hand over the case file to the prosecutor’s office for the drafting of their final opinion, the court adjourned the case until 27 April 2022.

 

İHD Co-Chair Türkdoğan appears in court on “terror” charge

 

The first hearing of the case against Human Rights Association (İHD) Co-Chair Öztürk Türkdoğan on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization” on account of his public statements concerning human rights violations was held at the Ankara 19th High Criminal Court on 22 February 2022.

 

Addressing the court for his defense statement, Türkdoğan said that the trial was aimed at intimidating human rights defenders, the İHD and himself. After hearing Türkdoğan and his lawyers’ statements, the court ruled for the continuation of Türkdoğan's travel ban and adjourned the case until 19 April 2022.

 

Merged Çarşı and Gezi trials separated

 

The merged retrials of Gezi and Çarşı defendants resumed at the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court on 21 February 2022.

 

The Gezi trial, in which 16 civil society figures, including the jailed businessperson Osman Kavala, are being retried for allegedly “organizing and financing” 2013’s Gezi Park protests, and the Çarşı trial, in which 35 members of the Beşiktaş football fan group “Çarşı” are being retried for allegedly “organizing a plot against the government during Gezi protests,” were merged last summer.

 

Osman Kavala, the only jailed defendant in the case, did not attend the hearing. His lawyers were present in the courtroom. Kavala, who has been behind bars since November 2017 as part of the “Gezi” and “15 July coup attempt” investigations against him, had said in a statement in October 2021 that he would not be attending hearings anymore because he did not believe this was a fair trial.

 

“Gezi trial” defendant Çiğdem Mater addressed the court first. Rejecting the accusations against her, Mater demanded to be acquitted. “The indictment alleges that I had attempted to overthrow the government ‘by means of a movie,’ which has actually never been shot. Even if such a film existed, the place to discuss a film should not be courtrooms. Making movies is not a crime. I am being tried on baseless allegations,” Mater said.

 

The lawyers representing Gezi and Çarşı defendants then addressed the court, requesting the separation of the merged cases.

 

The prosecutor requested that the file be handed over for the preparation of their final opinion concerning the case against Gezi defendants. The prosecutor also demanded the continuation of Kavala’s detention.

 

Ruling for the continuation of Osman Kavala’s detention by a majority and to separate the case against Çarşı defendants, the court decided to hand over the file against Gezi defendants to the prosecutor’s office for the drafting of their final opinion and adjourned the case until 21 March 2022.

 

A report on the hearing, monitored by P24, can be accessed here.

 

Durket Süren sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison

 

The ninth and final hearing of journalist Durket Süren’s trial on the charges of “aiding a terrorist organization” and “terrorism propaganda” for allegedly selling banned issues of Azadiya Welat and Özgür Gündem newspapers and for her social media posts was held at the Diyarbakır 11th High Criminal Court on 21 February 2022.

 

In their final opinion presented during the previous hearing, the prosecutor had requested Süren’s acquittal of “aiding a terrorist organization” charge but demanded sentence for the journalist on the charge of “terrorism propaganda.” The prosecutor argued that 14 posts Süren shared on Twitter between 2014 and 2016 contained “terror propaganda.”

 

Süren’s lawyer asserted that his client had stated at the beginning of the investigation that some of the social media posts did not belong to her. The lawyer said that screenshots of social media posts cannot qualify as legal evidence and added that the posts should be documented within their original flow to assess their meaning.

 

After hearing Süren’s lawyer’s statement, the court rendered its judgment. Acquitting Süren of “aiding a terrorist organization” charge, the court sentenced the journalist to 1 year, 6 months and 22 days in prison for “terrorism propaganda.” The court deferred the sentence. Accordingly, Süren will be subject to probation for the next five years. The court also lifted Süren’s ban on leaving the country.

 

At least 58 journalists and media workers in prison

 

As of 26 February 2022, at least 58 journalists and media workers are in prison in Turkey, either in pre-trial detention or serving a sentence.

 

The full list can be accessed here.