Conviction demanded for Şebnem Korur Fincancı; Mehmet Emin Kurnaz given prison term; Supreme Court of Appeals overturns Büyükada trial verdict; appellate court overturns acquittal rulings in Redhack case

Conviction demanded for Şebnem Korur Fincancı for “propaganda”

The indictment prepared by the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office against Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, President of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) who is currently in pre-trial detention, on charges of “terrorism propaganda” over her statement that “claims the Turkish Armed Forces used chemical weapons should be investigated” called for an imprisonment sentence of 7 years and 6 months.

The indictment states that the Directorate-General of Legal Services of the Ministry of National Defense had filed a criminal complaint against Fincancı on 20 November 2022 on the allegation that Korur Fincancı had “engaged in propaganda for the armed terrorist organization PKK.”

The indictment further claims that the Medya Haber TV, to which Korur Fincancı gave an interview on allegations of chemical weapon use by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had ties with the PKK and that the images used during the interview, the way in which the news was reported and the use of the expression “katledildi” (“massacred”) on a live broadcast “presented strong suspicion of the elements of the crime of terrorism propaganda.”

The prosecutor’s office had launched an investigation into Korur Fincancı's remarks regarding claims of the use of chemical weapons on 20 October 2022 on charges of “terrorism propaganda” and “denigrating the state of the Republic of Turkey, the institutions and organs of state." The Ankara 3rd Criminal Court of Peace placed Korur Fincancı in pre-trial detention for “terrorism propaganda” on 27 October 2022 and sent her to Sincan Closed Women’s Prison.

 

 

Journalist Mehmet Emin Kurnaz sentenced to imprisonment for “insulting the president”

 

BirGün politics editor Mehmet Emin Kurnaz announced in a Twitter post on 23 November 2022 that he had been sentenced to imprisonment of 11 months and 20 days for “insulting the president” over publishing a side by side photograph of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and crime ring leader Sedat Peker in the newspaper’s Sunday supplement.

 

In his announcement on social media, Kurnaz said “If a courageous prosecutor were to start an investigation, these insults would be considered within limits of ‘political criticism,’ just because Erdoğan said them.”

The Supreme Court of Appeals overturns the Büyükada trial verdict on legal merits

The 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals has 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 Kuşun, former director of Amnesty International Turkey İdil Eser and founding member of Amnesty International Turkey Özlem Dalkıran on grounds of “unlawfulness.”

Emphasizing that Kılıç had argued he did not use the ByLock application, the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the verdict with the following reasoning:

“A verdict in writing being established upon inadequate investigation, despite the necessity of the evaluation and identification of the legal situation upon the preparation of a detailed report on ByLock use identification and evaluation by relevant units and inquiry into whether any other statements or depositions regarding the defendant are present in the organised crimes information pool of UYAP, which if present should be read out to the defendant and defendant counsel in the hearing as per article 217/1 of the Law of Criminal Procedure to seek their counterstatement and if necessary upon seeking information from the owners of statements or depositions as witnesses, in the event of establishment of the use of the ByLock application beyond reasonable doubt through technical data and given that the evidence of being a ByLock user is sufficient to ascertain the impugned crime…”

The court also overturned the sentencing for rights advocates İdil Eser and Özlem Dalkıran on charges of aiding the PKK and DHKPC and of Günal Kurşun on charges of aiding the FETÖ and emphasized that the case file did not include evidence establishing that the rights advocates had aided these organizations beyond any reasonable doubt.

The case will be returned to the court of first instance, namely the İstanbul 35th High Criminal Court, for retrial.

 

Police officers assault, threaten journalist Volkan Pekal

 

Police officers assaulted Evrensel reporter Volkan Pekal during a press statement the HDP Adana Province Office attempted to hold outside the party’s Çukurova district office on 21 November 2022 to protest the Turkish Armed Forces’ air strikes on the Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq and northern Syria.

 

HDP administrators and members who were gathering for the press statement were forced by riot police and plainclothes officers into the building.

Police officers forced Pekal into the scuffle and assaulted him while he was covering the event. The police did not let Pekal out of the scuffle, despite him stating he was a member of the press. One police officer threatened Pekal, saying “We know who you are.”

 

Court rules for necessity of investigation into police commander Hanifi Zengin

 

The İstanbul Regional Administrative Court has overturned the province governorate’s decision not to allow an investigation against İstanbul Security Branch Director Hanifi Zengin, who is accused of threatening, assaulting and insulting journalists and requested an investigation against Zengin.

On 9 November 2022, the court unanimously ruled to overturn the “not necessary to investigate” decisions of the İstanbul Governor’s Office regarding two criminal complaints filed on behalf of Artı TV camera operator Bilal Meyveci and AFP reporter Bülent Kılıç and to convey the case on to the İstanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office.

Hanifi Zengin had threatened camera operator Bilal Meyveci, who was following a demonstration staged by healthcare workers, by saying “Did you get that? Did you get me stepping on your foot? Did you get me stepping on your foot? If not, I’ll see you later!”

Zengin had also reporter Kılıç taken into custody during the Pride Parade in June.

 

 

Journalist Şakir Bedir briefly briefly detained while reporting

 

Yeni Yaşam reporter Şakir Bedir, who was assaulted and detained by police officers while reporting on 21 November 2022 was released the same day after processing at the police station.

The HDP Van Province Office, Tevgera Jinên Azad (Free Women Movement), DBP Van Province Office, Peace Mothers Assembly members and many individuals gathered outside the HDP Edremit district office to protest the Turkish Armed Forces’ aerial operations. Police broke up the crowd, which began chanting slogans against police obstruction.

While following the event, reporter Bedir was assaulted and detained by the police. Bedir was released after processing at the police station.

 

 

Journalists prevented from reporting on Şebnem Korur Fincancı demonstration

 

The police intervened against a crowd that gathered outside the Grand Post Office in Sirkeci, İstanbul on 21 November 2022 to send letters and postcards to Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, the currently imprisoned President of the Central Assembly of the Turkish Medical Association.

The police obstructed the duty of press members by removing journalists from the area.

 

Police obstruct journalists covering demonstrations in Diyarbakır against air strikes

Breaking up a press statement against Turkey’s air strikes on Syria and the Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq held in Diyarbakır on 21 November 2022, the police prevented journalists from recording images.

The TJA, DTK, HDP, DBP and various civil society organizations gathered in Dağkapı Square in Diyarbakır for a press statement. HDP MP Dersim Dağ, HDP Province Co-Chair Zeyyat Ceylan, the ÖHD and civil society organizations participated in the statement.

The crowd that gathered in the square was encircled by the police. Upon police officers shouting at journalists “Show your press cards and IDs,” journalists responded “We’re doing our duty.” Police officers prevented journalists from recording images, saying “What duty, what is your duty?”

 

Appellate court approves sentencing and overturns acquittals in the Redhack case

 

The appellate court has approved the conviction of journalists Ömer Çelik, Tunca Öğreten, Mahir Kanaat, Derya Okatan, Eray Sargın and Metin Yoksu on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization,” “terrorism propaganda” and “illegally providing or obtaining personal data” for reporting on the e-mails of then Minister for Energy Berat Albayrak, which had been leaked by cyber piracy group Redhack.

Ruling on the objection by Albayrak’s lawyer to the acquittals and imprisonment sentences for journalists, the İstanbul 27th Criminal Chamber refused the appeals application for “terrorism propaganda,” “membership in a terrorist organization” and “committing a crime on behalf of an organization despite not being a member” on grounds of irrelevancy, as Albayrak had not been harmed by the crime and therefore did not hold the right to be an intervening party to the case.

 

Ruling on the Chief Prosecutor’s Office’s objection to the acquittal of Okatan of the charge of “illegally providing or obtaining personal data”, the Chamber argued that Okatan producing news from data sent to the Etkin News Agency (ETHA) of which he is the managing editor, constituted a crime and decided to overturn the acquittal and resubmit the case with the court of first instance.

The Chamber also ruled to overturn Okatan’s acquittal of “terrorism propaganda”. In its reasoning for this decision, the Chamber cited Okatan’s social media posts and news reporting.

 

 

Investigation launched against journalist Mehmet Selçuk Ada

 

Journalist Mehmet Selçuk Ada has announced that he is facing an investigation on suspicion of “inciting the people to hatred and enmity” over his tweet “seçim kampanyası başlıyor” (“the election campaign begins”,) which he posted on 13 November 2022.

 

Medya Ekranı YouTube account manager Ada said that he had received a phone call from the police station concerning an investigation and was told that he was being investigated concerning article 29 of the disinformation law, but that the deposition minutes stated that he was being investigated for “inciting the people to hatred and enmity.”

 

Ada stated that he had produced a video report using CHP MP for Antalya Rafet Zeybek’s speech in parliament after the disinformation law had been ratified, in which he explained how the “disinformation law” would affect daily life. The video then started receiving negative and insulting comments. Recounting his experience on Medya Ekranı, Ada said “I don’t use Twitter very often, but I think I’m on someone’s radar since my reporting on the disinformation law.”

 

Journalists Çağrı Sarı, Arif Koşar acquitted

The third hearing in the retrial of former managing editor Çağrı Sarı and former licensed publisher Arif Koşar of the Evrensel newspaper on charges of “denigrating the military and security organization of the state” was held at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 22 November 2022.

 

Sarı and Koşar’s lawyer Devrim Avcı was present at the hearing, which P24 monitored.

 

Presenting their final opinion on the case, the prosecutor requested the acquittal of both journalists in line with the Supreme Court of Appeals’ ruling.

 

In his defense statement against the opinion of the prosecution, lawyer Avcı said “We agree with the ruling of the 3rdCriminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals. Elements of the impugned crime have not formed.”

 

Lawyer Avcı requested the acquittal of Sarı and Koşar in line with the Supreme Court of Appeals’ decision to overturn.

 

The court ruled to acquit Çağrı Sarı and Arif Koşar separately.

 

Sarı and Koşar had been sentenced to 5 months of imprisonment each over the news item titled “Polis Nusaybin’de halkı taradı: 3 yaralı” (“Police fire on the people in Nusaybin: 3 wounded”) that was published in Evrensel on 15 March 2016. The 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals had overturned the verdict in March 2022 on grounds that elements of the impugned crime had not formed.

 

 

Court separates Cengiz Çandar’s case file

The eighth hearing in the trial of journalist Cengiz Çandar and activist Kemal Işıktaş on charges of “praising crime and criminals” over their social media posts dated May 2017 was held at the İstanbul 30th Criminal Court of First Instance on 22 November 2022.

 

Çandar’s lawyer Erselan Aktan was present at the hearing, which P24 monitored. Işıktaş and his lawyer presented an excuse not to attend.

 

Lawyer Aktan said that Çandar’s deposition obtained through letter rogatory would probably arrive in February and requested the correction of missing elements in the case file.

 

The judge decided to separate Cengiz Çandar’s case and to have it recorded under a new court entry.

 

Delivering the basis of accusations for Kemal Işıktaş only, following the separation of Çandar’s case, the prosecutor requested sentencing for Işıktaş over the impugned crime.

 

The court ruled to separate Çandar’s case and accepted the excuse presented by Işıktaş’s lawyer. The final hearing of Işıktaş’s trial is to be held on 13 December 2022.

 

Court ordered for arrest of another police officer who inflicted violence on Gökhan Biçici

The police officers who violently detained Biçici did not attend the hearing.

The third hearing in the trial of five police officers who inflicted violence on dokuz8HABER Editor-in-Chief Gökhan Biçici as he was reporting on the Gezi Park demonstrations on charges of “actual bodily harm through surpassing limits of authority to use force,” “insult” and “violation of the freedom to work and employment” was held at the İstanbul 48th Criminal Court of First Instance on 22 November 2022.

 

Biçici and his lawyers were present at the hearing, which P24 monitored. Defendant police officers and their lawyers did not attend the hearing.

 

Speaking as a witness, photojournalist Mürsel Çoban said “On the day of the incident I saw the police intervene against Gökhan and pull off the press card from his neck. When I reacted by saying ‘What’s going on’, the police told me to stay out of it. I took a photo of the moment Gökhan was detained and then left the area.”

 

Biçici’s lawyer Metin İris said that the defendants had committed the crime of “torture” and the case should be overseen by a high Criminal court due to its degree of severity.

 

The prosecutor, who in the previous hearing had demanded the charges for all defendants to be dropped due to statute of limitations said “The re-examination of the case has revealed some circumstances that prevent the statute of limitations from applying to some defendants. In this regard, we request the continuation of the prosecution.”

 

The court ruled to issue an order for the detention of defendant police officer Y.U., whose depositions has not been taken and to await the execution of the order for the detention of defendant A.E. The trial was adjourned until 23 February 2023.

Journalist Oktay Candemir appears before court

The first hearing in the trial of journalist Oktay Candemir on charges of “insulting a public official” over a tweet he shared was held at the Van 5th Criminal Court of First Instance on 24 November 2022.

 

Journalist Oktay Candemir and his lawyer Erhan Çiftçiler attended the hearing.

Following identification of those present, Candemir delivered his defense statement. Candemir said that the administrators of the city were responsible for the negative developments in Van and they should therefore be willing to put up with criticism and added he had posted a tweet under the scope of freedom of expression.

 

Following the defence statement by his lawyer, the court adjourned the trial until 17 January 2023 for the correction of missing elements in the case file.

 

Journalist Candemir had posted a tweet with the photo of former governor of Van Mehmet Emin Bilmez under which the following expression were written: “Vanspor [spots club] is dead. The city’s economy is dead. Civilian and democratic life is dead. The local press is dead. Municipal services are dead. What remain are bribery, nepotism, drugs, gambling, hunger and poverty” regarding negative developments in the city. Following Candemir’s post, the Van Chief Prosecutor’s Office had filed a case against him on charges of “insulting a public official”.

Journalists Ferhat Çelik, İdris Yayla appear before court

The first hearing in the trial of Mezopotamya Agency (MA) managing editor Ferhat Çelik and Jiyan News licensed publisher İdris Yayla on charges of “making public officials serving in fight against terrorism as targets” was held at the Van 2nd High Criminal Court on 22 November 2022.

 

Çelik and his lawyer Sercan Korkmaz and Yayla and his lawyer İlyas Tarım attended the hearing, which P24 monitored, via the judicial video-conferencing system (SEGBİS).

 

Delivering their defense statement, Çelik and Yayla denied the charge and requested their acquittal.

 

Çelik said that after their reporting, the prosecutor had been relieved of duty: “Furthermore, following our reporting, the prosecutor was relieved of duty and a new prosecutor was assigned to the file.”

 

The court decided to inquire with the Van Chief Prosecutor’s Office on the dates of assignment of Prosecutor İsmail Köker at the Terrorism Crimes Investigation Office. The trial was adjourned until 31 January 2023.

 

An indictment was filed against Çelik and Yayla over the news item titled “Gazetecilere gözaltı talimatını aynı savcı verdi” (“The same prosecutor orders the detention of journalists”) that was published by the MA on 8 October 2020. The news item subject to the accusation had publicly disclosed that the prosecutor who ordered the detention of journalists who reported on allegations of two villagers in the Çatak district of Van being tortured by being thrown out of a helicopter by soldiers and the prosecutor who was running the investigation into the soldiers concerned was the same person.

 

Please click here for a detailed report.

 

Reyhan Çapan’s trial adjourned until March 2023

The second hearing in the trial of now shut down Özgür Gündem newspaper managing editor Reyhan Çapan on charges of “not publishing an appropriate correction and response” (Law 5187 on the Press, 18/1-2) was held at the İstanbul 2ndCriminal Court of First Instance on 22 November 2022.

 

Çapan ’s lawyer Özcan Kılıç was present at the hearing, which P24 monitored. The intervening party presented an excuse not to attend.

 

Lawyer Kılıç reminded the court of their petition dated 22 February 2022 and said “The elements of the crime have not formed, as the retraction text was not conveyed duly and according to the law. I request the acquittal of my client.”

 

Presenting the opinion as to the accusations, the prosecutor requested sentencing for Çapan over the impugned crime.

 

Defending against the opinion as to the accusations, lawyer Kılıç said “There was no due correspondence. The procedural elements of the crime have not formed. We’re of the opinion that the correction text that was published has provided the benefit expected of a request for retraction. Furthermore, the intervening party has made financial demands of us, instead of a correction text. The process continues as we have not accepted this request. Therefore, there is an unethical situation. We insist on our request for acquittal.”

 

The court accepted the excuse presented by the lawyer of the intervening party and adjourned the trial until 14 March 2023.

 

The front page of the 17 June 2014 issue of the Özgür Gündem newspaper had featured the photograph of İbrahim Aras under the news headlined “Çocuk Katilleri” (“Child Killers”) and stated that Aras had been killed. Aras’s family and lawyers had requested a retraction for the correction of the news item. The requested retraction was published in the front page of the 23 October 2014 issue of Özgür Gündem, under the headline “Correction and Apology.” The İstanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment against managing editor Reyhan Çapan and editor-in-chief Eren Keskin on charges of “not publishing an appropriate correction and response” over grounds that the “retraction text had not been duly published” on 20 January 2015.

 

The trial held at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance had resulted in a judicial fine of TL 50,000 against Çapan and Keskin. The announcement of the verdict was deferred for Keskin. Çapan’s lawyers appealed against the verdict for their client. On 19 April 2021, the 19th Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the verdict and resubmitted the case with the local court for the “trial to be carried out and concluded starting from the stage before the decision to overturn.”

 

Following the overturning of the verdict, the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance reached at a verdict for Çapan on 16 December 2021 through simple trial procedure. A retrial began following the objection by Çapan’s lawyer Sercan Korkmaz to the implementation of the simple trial procedure.

 

The Özgür Gündem trial with defendants Aykol, Kaya, Kızılkaya and Dicle adjourned

The 23rd hearing of the trial of former editors-in-chief Hüseyin Aykol and Zana Kaya, managing editor İnan Kızılkaya of the Özgür Gündem newspaper, which was shut down in 2016 by statutory decree (KHK) and Kurdish politician Hatip Dicle on charges of “openly denigrating the Turkish nation, the state of the Republic of Turkey, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the government of the Republic of Turkey and the judicial organs of the state” and “openly denigrating the military or security organization of the state” over news published in the newspaper in 2016 was held at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 22 November 2022.

 

Lawyer Özcan Kılıç was present at the hearing, which P24 monitored.

 

The court ruled to await the execution of the order for the detention of Hatip Dicle and adjourned the trial until 14 March 2023.

 

Journalist Cihan Ölmez’s trial adjourned

The fifth hearing of the trial of journalist Cihan Ölmez on charges of “terrorism propaganda” over his social media posts and statements to the press regarding the curfews imposed in 2015-2016 in the Cizre district in Şırnak was held at the Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court on 22 November 2022.

 

Ölmez and his lawyer did not attend the hearing, which P24 monitored. The court ruled to await the execution of the previously issued detention order on Ölmez so that his deposition could be taken and adjourned the case until 2 May 2023.

 

At the 7 December 2021 hearing of the trial, the court had issued an order for arrest of Ölmez who was abroad.

 

Please click here for a detailed report.

 

Journalists Aziz Oruç and Dicle Müftüoğlu's trial adjourned until January

The 10th hearing in the trial of remanded journalist Aziz Oruç on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “terrorism propaganda,” and of Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) co-chair Dicle Müftüoğlu and four others on charges of “knowingly and willingly aiding an organization” was held at the Ağrı 2nd High Criminal Court on 23 November 2022.

 

P24 monitored the hearing, which Aziz Oruç attended the hearing from Diyarbakır No. 1 Prison, Oruç’s lawyer Sultan Çiftçiler from Van, Dicle Müftüoğlu’s lawyer Resul Temur from Diyarbakır and lawyer Erselan Aktan from İstanbul, all via SEGBİS.

 

Repeating the basis as to the accusations presented at the previous hearing, the prosecutor requested Oruç’s acquittal from the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization” and sentencing for the charge of “terrorism propaganda.” The prosecutor requested sentencing for Müftüoğlu and the other four defendants for the charge of “aiding crime and criminals.”

 

Speaking for his client Dicle Müftüoğlu, who did not attend the hearing and for whom the prosecution had demanded sentencing for “aiding crime and criminals” in the previous hearing, lawyer Resul Temur requested time to prepare an additional defence for this charge.

 

The court adjourned the trial until 18 January 2023 for deficiencies regarding merits to be corrected.

 

Journalist Aziz Oruç is on trial for entering Turkey illegally on 18 December 2019. Müftüoğlu and four others are facing trial for aiding journalist Oruç, who wanted to travel to Europe through Armenia but was extradited to Iran without a court ruling for possession of a false passport and was later left at the Turkey-Iran border after suffering maltreatment by Iranian authorities.

 

Please click here for a detailed report.

 

Zeynep Kuray’s trial adjourned until February 2023

The second hearing in the trial of journalist Zeynep Kuray on charges of “opposition to Law 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations” was held at the İstanbul 39th Criminal Court of First Instance on 24 November 2022.

 

Some of the defendants’ lawyers attended the hearing, which P24 monitored. Kuray and other defendants did not attend the hearing.

 

Lawyers present at the hearing stated that defendant Hüseyin Yarıcı had taken asylum abroad and therefore the casefile for their clients should be separated.

 

Requesting the denial of the separation request at this stage, the prosecutor demanded that Hüseyin Yarıcı’s address be inquired with the police.

 

The court ruled to write a letter to the Directorate-General of Security for the identification of the address of Hüseyin Yarıcı and to take up the case separation request at the following hearing and adjourned the trial until 9 February 2023.

 

Kuray, who was reporting on a demonstration held in support of HDP MP Leyla Güven, who was on hunger strike, in May 2019 is being tried along with nine others who participated in the demonstration.

 

 

Journalist Alican Uludağ’s trial adjourned until February 2023

 

The second appeals hearing over the 10-month imprisonment sentence for journalist Alican Uludağ for “marking targets of public officials involved in fight against terrorism as targets” over a tweet he posted regarding former Ankara Chief Prosecutor Yüksel Kocaman was held at the 22nd Criminal Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice on 23 November 2022.

 

 

The prosecutor presented their final opinion on the case. The appellate court prosecutor stated that there was no unlawfulness in the conviction verdict issued by the court of first instance and requested the dismissal on merits of the appeals application as per article 280/1 of the Law on Criminal Procedure.

 

The court adjourned the case until 1 February 2023 to allow time to prepare a counterstatement to Uludağ’s lawyer, upon the lawyer’s request.

 

 

Tweets by Uludağ on former Ankara Chief Prosecutor Yüksel Kocaman, who ordered the re-arrest of former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş and visited President Erdoğan right after his wedding were featured among the Twitter posts subject to the accusations in the indictment.

 

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had prepared an indictment against Uludağ based on his social media posts. In the second hearing of the trial, Uludağ had been sentenced to imprisonment of ten months.

Nebiye Arı appears before court

Journalist Nebiye Arı, who was detained while covering the “Unhoused Movement,” began by university students to draw attention inadequate student housing and rent hikes, and was later charged with “opposition to Law 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations” and “insulting a public official” ) appeared before the court on 25 November 2022.

 

Upon the directives of the Ankara 15th Criminal Court of First Instance, the trial of Arı, who lives in İstanbul, was overseen by the İstanbul Anadolu 39th Criminal Court of First Instance.

 

Arı and her lawyer Abdullah İkbal Arslanbaş were present at the hearing. Denying the charges in her defence statement, Arı said that she had attended the demonstration to report on the news on the day of the incident: “Police stopped the demonstrators by the side of the motorway. Along with Hilal Işık and Yağmur Kaya who are also defendants, we told them we were journalists. They took us aside. The police would not let us record during the demonstration. We followed their directions. As we walked towards a petrol station to buy water, the police first asked us ‘What are you doing?’ Then they asked ‘Did you come on the same coach?’ When we told them we had come on the same coach, they took us to the police station. When they found microphones and recording equipment when searching our bags, they asked us again whether we were journalists. Despite telling them we were journalists, they categorised us as demonstrators, which is why we are facing trial in this form. I request my acquittal.” Arı requested being exempted from attending future hearings.

 

Arı’s lawyer Arslanbaş said that they would make their statements directly to the court concerned (Ankara 15th Criminal Court of First Instance).

 

The court decided to return Arı’s deposition, which it had received under instruction, to the Ankara 15th Criminal Court of First Instance.

 

The demonstration by university students travelling from various cities to Ankara on 12 December 2021 had been banned by the province governor’s office. Arı, who was detained while following the demonstration, was released on 13 December 2021. The indictment prepared by the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office against 49 people, including Arı, had been accepted by the Ankara 15th Criminal Court of First Instance.

 

At least 76 journalists and media workers in prison

 

As of 25 November 2022, there are at least 76 journalists and media workers held as detainees or convicts in prisons in Turkey.

 

The full list can be accessed here.