Council of Europe again calls for release Osman Kavala and Selahattin Demirtaş; Journalist Gençağa Karafazlı given prison term; RTÜK fines Flash Haber, Habertürk over “earthquake” remarks; Fırat Can Arslan, Dilan Babat detained during news coverage face lawsuit

 

Council of Europe reiterates call for release of Osman Kavala, Selahattin Demirtaş

 

The Council of Europe has again urged the Turkish authorities to immediately release businessman and civil society figure Osman Kavala and Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş, in line with judgments from the European Court of Human Rights to that effect.

 

In a decision adopted at the end of a meeting on 7-9 March to supervise the execution of the European Court’s judgements, the Committee of Ministers deeply deplored that Osman Kavala remains in detention more than three years after the European Court’s initial judgment in his case and “urged the competent Turkish authorities to ensure that all the negative consequences of the criminal charges brought against the applicant are eliminated without further delay, in particular by ensuring that he is immediately released.”

 

Regarding Demirtaş’s case, the Committee of Ministers adopted an interim resolution on 9 March, expressed “profound concern” that Demirtaş has been continuously deprived of his liberty since November 2016 and “exhorted the authorities to take all possible steps to ensure that the Constitutional Court makes its determination concerning the applicant’s ongoing detention in the shortest possible timeframe and with full regard to the Court’s findings, and to ensure the applicant’s immediate release, for example by exploring alternative measures to detention pending the completion of the proceedings before the Constitutional Court.”

 

Journalist Gençağa Karafazlı given prison term

 

A Rize court sentenced local journalist Gençağa Karafazlı to 1 year and 8 months in prison for “violating the privacy of communication between persons” over a report, at the end of a hearing held on 7 March 2023.

 

The report in question from 2017 concerned allegations of abuse and mobbing against an academic from Rize’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University.

 

Karafazlı and his lawyer attended the hearing held at the Rize 4th Criminal Court of First Instance. Karafazlı said that correspondence between a lecturer and a student, which were used in the report, cannot be considered private information and demanded his acquittal.

 

The prosecutor submitted their final opinion on the case and demanded conviction for Karafazlı of the impugned crime.

 

Announcing its decision at the end of the hearing, the court sentenced Karafazlı to 1 year and 8 months in prison and suspended the conviction.

 

 

RTÜK fines Flash Haber, HaberTürk TV over “earthquake” remarks

 

Broadcasting watchdog RTÜK fined HaberTürk TV and Flash Haber TV over their coverage of earthquake aftermath.

 

İlhan Taşcı, a RTÜK member from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said on 8 March that RTÜK fined Flash Haber 3 percent of its monthly advertisement revenue and temporarily suspended the broadcasting of a show over on-air remarks by theologian Cemil Kılıç regarding the authorities’ response to the disaster.

 

RTÜK also fined HaberTürk TV over anchorman Fatih Altaylı’s remarks that the broadcaster’s plans to organize a donation campaign to help earthquake victims had been blocked by the RTÜK.

 

Journalists Fırat Can Arslan, Dilan Babat to stand trial over funeral coverage

 

Mezopotamya News Agency reporter Fırat Can Arslan and JinNews reporter Dilan Babat are charged with “marking those involved in the fight against terrorism as targets” in connection with a funeral that they covered in October 2022 in the central Anatolian province of Konya.

 

Arslan and Babat were detained by gendarmerie on 13 October 2022 while they were covering the funeral of journalist and writer Nagihan Akarsel, who was killed in an armed attack in Süleymaniye, Iraq, on 4 October 2022. The two journalists had been released after they gave their statements but prosecutors later launched an investigation against them over the content of their live broadcast from the funeral and the fact that their footage included gendarmerie officials dispatched to the ceremony.

 

The Konya 2nd High Criminal Court has accepted the indictment drafted by the Konya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and set the date of the first hearing as 25 May 2023.

 

Retrial of human rights defenders in Büyükada case begins

 

The retrial of four human rights defenders whose convictions in “Büyükada Trial” were overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeals began at the İstanbul 35th High Criminal Court on 8 March 2022.

 

In its ruling dated 17 October 2022, the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals had overturned the imprisonment sentence of 6 years and 3 months for Amnesty International Honorary Chair Taner Kılıç for “membership in a terrorist organization” on grounds of “inadequate investigation” and the sentences for other defendants academic Günal Kurşun, former director of Amnesty International Turkey section İdil Eser and founding member of Amnesty International Turkey section Özlem Dalkıran on grounds of “unlawfulness.”

 

Günal Kurşun, Taner Kılıç and lawyers of the defendants attended the hearing, which P24 monitored.

 

Addressing the court during the hearing, Kılıç criticized the Supreme Court of Appeals judgement for ordering further investigation into allegations that he had used a chat application, ByLock, that prosecutors claim constitute evidence for membership of “the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization,” or FETÖ. Kılıç, who spent more than 14 months in pre-trial detention as part of the trial, said four different reports each confirming the same findings had been prepared in the course of his prosecution. “I don’t understand why these reports were never taken into consideration,” he said, adding that authorities are still trying to gather evidence six years into his prosecution. “I ask your court to decide based on whatever evidence that was already gathered during my six-year-long prosecution,” Kılıç said.

 

Günal Kurşun, for his part, said the charges against him were linked to the fact that he had written columns for now-defunct Today’s Zaman newspaper but added that presidential advisor İbrahim Kalın was a contributor to the newspaper like him. “The prosecutor should have charged him [Kalın] with membership in a terrorist organization as well,” he said. Kurşun, who was dismissed from his academic post by an emergency decree, said he was unable to work as a lawyer or as an academic because of his dismissal under an emergency decree. “They are telling us to die,” he said.

 

Announcing its interim decision at the end of the hearing, the court ruled to accept the Supreme Court of Appeals’ verdict to overturn previous convictions and decided to await the expert report on whether Kılıç had used ByLock and adjourned the trial until 6 June.

 

Journalist Sedef Kabaş faces new trial for “insulting the president”

 

A lawsuit has been filed against journalist Sedef Kabaş on charges of “insulting the president” over her social media posts.

 

The Anadolu 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, which accepted an indictment filed against Kabaş on 10 February 2023, set the first hearing for 22 June 2023. The indictment cites 25 tweets posted by Kabaş between 2016 and 2021 as evidence.  

 

Kabaş had been sentenced to 2 years and 4 months in prison for “insulting the president” in her televised remarks in January 2022 at the end of a trial overseen by the İstanbul 36th Criminal Court of First Instance on 11 March 2022. Kabaş had spent more than a month in prison as part of that trial.

Imprisoned journalist Ceylan Şahinli faces new lawsuit

 

Mezopotamya News Agency reporter Ceylan Şahinli, who has been imprisoned since 29 October 2022 as part of a different investigation, is charged with “terrorism propaganda” in a new trial.

 

The indictment, dated 5 December 2022, cites three demonstrations Şahinli allegedly took part in in 2017 and three tweets posted by an account claimed to belong to Şahinli as evidence.

 

The first hearing in the trial was held at the Ankara 20th High Criminal Court on 7 March 2023. Neither Şahinli nor her lawyer attended the hearing. The court adjourned the trial until 24 April 2023.

 

Journalists obstructed by police while covering protest

 

Police broke up a demonstration organized by the We Will Stop Femicide Platform on 5 March 2023 to read out a press statement for those who lost their lives in the devastating earthquakes.

 

Police teams detained many women and attempted to prevent journalists from filming the intervention.

 

İHD Co-Chair Eren Keskin to be heard as witness in trial of journalist Yağmur Kaya

 

The third hearing in the trial of journalist Yağmur Kaya, who is charged with “marking those involved in the fight against terrorism as targets” over an interview upon a complaint by former Deputy Gendarmerie Commander Musa Çitil, was held at the Aydın 2nd High Criminal Court on 9 March 2023.

 

The court decided to hear Human Rights Association (İHD) Co-Chair Eren Keskin, whom Kaya interviewed, as witness and adjourned the trial until 1 June 2023.

 

Journalist Fırat Bulut faces investigation under “disinformation” law

 

Journalist Fırat Bulut was arrested at the Esenboğa Airport in Ankara on 9 March 2023 as he was returning from a one-month stay in the earthquake region covering the disaster aftermath.

 

Bulut said on Twitter that authorities in the eastern province of Bingöl opened an investigation against him on charges of “spreading false information” under the recently enacted “disinformation” law.

 

Three journalists detained while covering Women’s Day march

 

Police broke up Feminist Night Rally that is held every year in Taksim, İstanbul on 8 March International Women’s Day.

 

Yolculuk daily reporter Buse Söğütlü, Anka News Agency reporter Gaye Şeyma Can and freelance journalist Berna Şahin were detained by police officers, who handcuffed them from behind. The journalists were then released.

 

Compensation case brought by Limak Holding against Evrensel dismissed

 

An Ankara court has dismissed a compensation case brought by Limak Holding against Evrensel daily on charges of “harming personal rights” over a report on a marl quarry planned to be built in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa.

 

Lawyers of the both sides attended the hearing held at the Ankara 6th Commercial Court of First Instance on 10 March 2023.

 

Evrensel’s lawyer Devrim Avcı stated that the report was served public interest and did not harm the company’s personal rights, and should be viewed within the scope of freedom of the press.

 

Avcı requested the dismissal of the case, which was accepted by the court.

 

 

Journalist Nagihan Yılkın appears before judge upon Gaziantep governor’s complaint

 

The trial of Cumhuriyet daily reporter Nagihan Yılkın, who is charged with “insulting a public official” upon a complaint by Gaziantep Governor Davut Gül over a news report, got under way at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 9 March 2023.

 

Yılkın and her lawyer attended the hearing. The court adjourned the trial until 13 July 2023.

 

The charges stem from the report titled “Gaziantep Valiliği Hakkında suç duyurusu: Yolsuzluk ve rüşvet ağı ortaya çıktı” (Criminal Complaint against Gaziantep Governorate: Corruption and Bribery Network Come Into Light) as

 

Trial of journalist Şerife Oruç adjourned until May

The 23rd hearing in the trial of now-defunct Dicle News Agency (DİHA) reporter Şerife Oruç on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” was held at the Batman 2nd High Criminal Court on 9 March 2023.

Not Oruç but her lawyer attended the hearing.

The prosecutor in their opinion requested the court to await the execution of the order for Oruç’s arrest, and issue a writ to the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to inquire the outcome of the investigation carried out against Oruç.

The court accepted the requests and adjourned the trial until 11 May 2023.

Trial of Metin Cihan over TÜGVA documents adjourned until April

 

The seventh hearing in the trial of journalist Metin Cihan, who is charged with “illegally obtaining or disseminating personal data” for making public the TÜGVA documents that supposedly reveal nepotism in appointments to state jobs, was held at the İstanbul 22nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 8 March 2023.

 

Cihan, who lives abroad, did not attend the hearing, which P24 monitored. Lawyers of Cihan and TÜGVA requested additional time.

 

The court accepted the request, decided to await the exeuction of the order for Cihan’s arrest and adjourned the trial until 28 April 2023.

Trial in quake zone adjourned until 6 April

The trial of Gerger Fırat newspaper Publisher Hacı Boğatekin and Managing Editor Özgür Boğatekin, who are charged with “defamation” has been adjourned because of the earthquake disaster that hit 11 southeastern provinces on 6 February. The fourth hearing will be held at the Gerger Criminal Court of First Instance on 6 April.

The retrial of Özgür Boğatekin, who would appear before a court for “insulting a public official” as part of a different case on the same day has also been adjourned. The third hearing will be held at the Gerger Criminal Court of First Instance on 6 April.

The trial of now-defunct İMC TV’s program coordinator Ayşegül Doğan, who is charged with “membership in a terrorist organization” has been adjourned. The fourth hearing will be held at the Diyarbakır 9th High Criminal Court on 6 April.

The retrial of now-defunct Silvan Mücadele newspaper Editor-in-Chief Ferhat Parlak, who is charged with “membership in a terrorist organization, has been adjourned. The next hearing will be held at the Diyarbakır 11th High Criminal Court on 6 April.

At least 69 journalists and media workers in prison

 

There are at least 69 journalists and media employees who are in prison either pending trial or serving sentence in Turkey as of 12 March 2023.

The full list can be accessed here.