Supreme Court prosecutor requests upholding of sentences of Gezi defendants excluding Mücella Yapıcı; 15 journalists released after spending 13 months in pre-trial detention; İrfan Tunççelik and Ümit Turhan Coşkun acquitted; indictment against Merdan Yanardağ accepted

 

Supreme Court of Appeals prosecutor requests upholding of sentences in Gezi trial, excluding one given to Mücella Yapıcı

 

The Office of the General Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals requested that the Court uphold the lifetime imprisonment sentence given to Osman Kavala and the 18-year prison sentences given to Can Atalay, Tayfun Kahraman, Çiğdem Mater, Mine Özerden and Hakan Altınay in the Gezi trial.

 

In their opinion issued on 7 July 2023, the General Prosecutor’s Office requested that the Court overturn the conviction of Mücella Yapıcı because “conclusive and convincing evidence could not be obtained” against her.

 

The General Prosecutor was of the opinion that the case regarding Can Atalay need not be put on hold due to his recent election as an MP in the latest parliamentary elections. The prosecutor did not comment on whether Atalay will be released or not.

 

The İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court, concluding the retrial on 25 April 2022, sentenced Kavala to aggravated life in prison and his seven co-defendants to 18 years in prison each on charges of “attempting to overthrow the government” and ordered their arrest “considering the length of their sentences and because judicial control measures would not provide the benefit sought from arrest.”

 

The trial court’s judgment was first reviewed by the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice, which upheld the sentences.

 

15 journalists released after spending 13 months in pre-trial detention

 

Eighteen journalists, 15 of whom have been jailed pending trial since June 2022, appeared before the Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court on 11-12 July 2023 for the first hearing in their trial on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization.” The accused journalists were taken into custody on 8 June 2022 as part of an investigation launched in Diyarbakır.

 

P24 monitored the hearing. Serdar Altan, Mehmet Ali Ertaş, Aziz Oruç, Elif Üngür, İbrahim Koyuncu, Lezgin Akdeniz, Mazlum Güler, Mehmet Şahin, Neşe Toprak, Ömer Çelik, Ramazan Geciken, Suat Doğuhan, Zeynel Abidin Bulut, Abdurrahman Öncü and Remziye Temel, who have been jailed for the past 13 months as part of the case, and their co-defendants Esmer Tunç, Mehmet Yalçın and Kadir Bayram were present in the courtroom.

 

Addressing the court for their defense statements, the journalists asserted that they were on trial due to their professional activities and demanded to be released.

 

The prosecutor requested the continuation of the journalists’ pre-trial detention, citing the current evidence, the nature of the alleged offense and the evidence yet to be collected.

 

The court ruled to release all 15 journalists jailed as part of the case under a ban on traveling abroad and adjourned the case until 9 November 2023.

 

For further information, see our report.

 

Journalists İrfan Tunççelik and Ümit Turhan Coşkun acquitted

 

The sixth hearing in the trial against journalists İrfan Tunççelik and Ümit Turhan Coşkun and 11 people from the Peace Mothers Initiative on charges of “violating the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations” and “committing an offense on behalf of a criminal organization” was held at the İstanbul 23rd High Criminal Court on 11 July 2023. The journalists are on trial for covering a demonstration organized in 2019 in front of the Bakırköy Women’s Prison in İstanbul in connection with the hunger strikes in prisons.

 

None of the defendants attended the hearing. They were represented by their lawyers. Presenting their final opinion, the prosecutor requested acquittal for all 13 defendants because the legal elements of the alleged offense were not present.

 

Ruling in line with the prosecutor’s final opinion, the court acquitted all 13 defendants and lifted the international travel ban that had been imposed on some of the defendants.

 

30 people detained during press statement by Saturday Mothers

 

Thirty people, including Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) Board Member Ümit Biçer and Human Rights Association (İHD) Co-Chairperson Eren Keskin, were violently detained by the police, who intervened in a press statement by the Saturday Mothers/People on İstanbul’s Galatasaray Square on 8 July 2023.

 

The police also prevented journalists from covering the detentions and removed them from the area while reporters Fatoş Erdoğan, Dilan Şimşek and Umut Taştan suffered physical violence. Lawyer Murat Çelik, who was among those detained, reportedly suffered a facial injury due to police brutality.

 

All 30 people taken into custody were released later that day.

 

Indictment against jailed journalist Merdan Yanardağ accepted

 

Tele 1 TV Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ, jailed pending trial since 27 June 2023 on account of his televised commentary, is charged with “terrorism propaganda” and “praising a crime and a criminal offender” in the indictment against him.

 

Issued by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the indictment was sent to the İstanbul 30th High Criminal Court. Accepting the indictment, the court set 4 October 2023 as the date for the first hearing in Yanardağ’s trial.

 

Journalists covering junkyard fire in Muğla threatened

 

Journalists covering a fire that broke out in a junkyard in the Akçaalan neighborhood of Muğla province on 9 July 2023 were threatened by a person affiliated with the company.

 

The man threatened to shoot the journalists in case they don’t erase the footage and photos they took at the site. The journalists stated that they would go to the local gendarmerie station and file a criminal complaint against the man.

 

Journalist Serkan Çağlar attacked by district governor’s bodyguard

 

Journalist Serkan Çağlar, a reporter for İhlas News Agency based in the Kağızman district of Kars province, was attacked by a police officer who works as a personal protection officer for the district governor.

 

The journalist was initially verbally attacked by the police officer inside the district governor’s office. After leaving the building, the journalist was physically attacked on the grounds that he had parked his car in the wrong place. Security camera footage showed that the guard police grabbed journalist Çağlar by the throat and laid him on the ground.

 

Çağlar, who was injured in his arm and his leg, stated that he received a medical report from the hospital proving the assault and filed a complaint against the police officer.

 

Journalists attacked while covering funeral of police officer

 

Batı Haber newspaper Concessionaire Ayşe Sönmez and reporters from Demirören News Agency (DHA) were attacked as they were covering the funeral prayer held on 12 July 2023 at a local mosque for a police officer who was found dead in his vehicle in the Ortaca district of Muğla province.

 

The DHA crew was reportedly attacked by the relatives of the dead officer while Sönmez stated that she was attacked by a woman as she was taking photos of the funeral. Sönmez said the woman pulled her arm and forcibly took her phone while she was taking pictures. Sönmez filed a complaint against the attacker.

 

CHP files complaint against public broadcaster TRT

 

Republican People’s Party (CHP) İstanbul Provincial Chairperson Canan Kaftancıoğlu announced in a statement in front of the İstanbul Courthouse on 12 July 2023 that the party filed a criminal complaint against the Turkish public broadcaster TRT for their “discriminatory and unlawful broadcasting policy” against the CHP and CHP’s Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

 

Kaftancıoğlu stated that the TRT violated the public’s right to information and prevented the exercising of political rights, adding: “We filed a complaint against the TRT’s General Manager who abused his duty. Our search for justice will continue.”

 

Prosecutor demands sentence for journalist Şehriban Alkış

 

A case in which journalist Şehriban Alkış and six women and LGBTI+ protesters are charged with “violating the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations,” “resisting law enforcement to prevent the performance of their duty,” “preventing the activities of a public institution” and “damaging public property” resumed at the İstanbul 23rd Criminal Court of First Instance on 11 July 2023. This was the eighth hearing in the case.

 

Neither Alkış nor her lawyer attended the hearing.

 

The prosecutor presented their final opinion, demanding acquittal for all defendants of the charges of “damaging public property” due to lack of evidence and “violating the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations” because the elements of the alleged offense were not present. However, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence all defendants for “resisting law enforcement to prevent the performance of their duty” and “preventing the activities of a public institution” on the grounds that the complainant police officers had “received injuries requiring simple medical treatment.”

 

The court adjourned the case until 14 November 2023.

 

Prosecutor seeks sentence for journalists Nagihan Yılkın and Mustafa Büyüksipahi

 

The second hearing in a case in which Cumhuriyet reporter Nagihan Yılkın and cumhuriyet.com.tr Editor-in-Chief Mustafa Büyüksipahi are charged with “insulting a public official” on account of a report published on Cumhuriyet’s online edition was held at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 13 July 2023.

 

The accusation stems from a 5 March 2022 report titled “Gaziantep Valiliği Hakkında suç duyurusu: Yolsuzluk ve rüşvet ağı ortaya çıktı” (Criminal complaint against Gaziantep Governor’s Office: Corruption and bribery network revealed). The case was launched upon a complaint by İstanbul Governor Davut Gül, who was the governor of Gaziantep at the time.

 

P24 monitored the hearing. Lawyers representing the journalists and Governor Gül were present in the courtroom. Yılkın and Büyüksipahi did not attend the hearing.

 

Submitting their final opinion during the hearing, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence the journalists as charged, claiming that the expressions in the news story subject to the accusation were aimed at damaging the reputation of the complainant and that therefore the legal elements of the “insult” charge were present.

 

Governor Gül’s lawyer said they agreed with the prosecutor’s final opinion and requested that the court sentence Yılkın.

 

Yılkın’s lawyer requested a continuance to prepare their statement in response to the prosecutor’s final opinion. Granting Yılkın’s lawyer a continuance, the court adjourned the case until 5 December 2023.

 

“Insult” case against journalist İsmail Arı adjourned until October

 

The second hearing in BirGün reporter İsmail Arı’s trial on charges of “insulting a public official” was held at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 11 July 2023.

 

The case was filed upon a complaint by former Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank. Arı is accused over his report headlined “Deniz manzaralı araziyi Varank’ın ‘kuzeni’ kaptı!” (Varank’s “cousin” gets plot with sea view), which was published on 18 November 2022.

 

Arı and his lawyer were in attendance. In his defense statement, Arı denied the accusation and requested to be acquitted. Stating that the subject covered in the report was newsworthy not only in Turkey but all over the world, Arı added: “I wrote this article to inform the public. My work is within the scope of journalism and freedom of the press.”

 

Varank’s lawyer asked the court to join the case and demanded that the court sentence Arı.

 

Accepting Varank’s request to join the case due to the possibility of being harmed by the alleged offense, the court decided to send the file to the prosecution for the preparation of their final opinion and adjourned the case until 24 October 2023.

 

Case against journalist Rozerin Gültekin to continue in January

 

The second hearing in JinNews reporter Rozerin Gültekin’s trial on charges of “violating the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations” was held at the Bursa 18th Criminal Court of First Instance on 11 July 2023. Gültekin was detained during a demonstration held in protest of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan’s imprisonment conditions on 12 June 2022 in the western province of Bursa.

 

The court adjourned the case until 18 January 2024.

 

Trial of journalist Rüstem Batum adjourned until November

 

The 11th hearing in journalist Rüstem Batum’s trial on charges of “insulting the president” and “inciting hatred and animosity” on account of his social media posts was held at the İstanbul 5th Criminal Court of First Instance on 13 July 2023.

 

P24 monitored the hearing, which was attended by Batum’s lawyer, Merve Kurhan.

 

Kurhan told the court that Batum could not travel due to medical reasons and demanded that her client submit his defense statement in writing to the court through the Turkish Consulate in his country of residence and that the court lift his arrest warrant.

 

The court rejected Kurhan’s request on the grounds that the US, where Batum currently resides, does not accept letters rogatory for “insult” charges and that there is no procedure allowing the submitting of a defense statement in writing. Ruling to wait for the execution of the arrest warrant for Batum, the court adjourned the case until 23 November 2023.

 

Case against Öznur Değer and 23 others adjourned until December

 

The second hearing in a case in which JinNews reporter Öznur Değer and 23 others are charged with “violating the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations” and “resisting [law enforcement] to prevent the performance of duty” was held at the Ankara 18th Criminal Court of First Instance on 10 July 2023.

 

Değer, who was covering a demonstration staged in Ankara on 28 November 2021 against the rising cost of living, was taken into custody by the police along with 23 protesters.

 

The court decided to wait until 20 July to issue arrest warrants for defendants who have yet to make their statements and set 11 December 2023 as the date for the next hearing.

 

“Boğaziçi University exhibition case” postponed

 

The ninth hearing in a trial in which seven Boğaziçi University students are charged with “inciting hatred and animosity” was scheduled to be held on 14 July 2023 at the İstanbul 21st Criminal Court of First Instance. The hearing was postponed to a later date because the judge overseeing the case was on leave.

 

The students are accused on account of a painting featured in an ad hoc exhibition they had put together on the campus in protest against the rector appointed to the university by President Erdoğan.

 

At least 44 journalists and media workers in prison

 

Following the release of 15 jailed journalists at their first hearing held in Diyarbakır this week, as of 14 July 2023 there are at least 44 journalists and media workers in prison in Turkey, either in pre-trial detention or serving a sentence.

 

The full list can be accessed here.