Selahattin Kaygusuz placed in pre-trial detention; file sent to prosecutor’s office for final opinion in retrial of the “Altans case”; sentence requested for Fırat Bulut for “spreading false information”; witness police officer heard at Bülent Kılıç’s trial admits to “signing the report without witnessing the incident”

 

 

Yeni Yaşam distributor Selahattin Kaygusuz imprisoned pending trial for “membership in a terrorist organization”

 

Selahattin Kaygusuz, a Batman-based distributor for Yeni Yaşam newspaper, was jailed pending trial on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization” by a criminal judgeship of peace in Diyarbakır

 

Kaygusuz, who was detained during a raid on his home in Batman on 20 October 2023 over the testimony of a witness was brought to the courthouse on 24 October 2023, following four days in custody in Diyarbakır Directorate of Security.

 

Following processing at the prosecutor’s office, Kaygusuz was referred to a criminal judgeship of peace with a request for him to be placed in pre-trial detention.

 

After delivering his statement at the Criminal Judgeship of Peace, Kaygusuz was imprisoned pending trial on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization.”

 

 

Journalist Nafiye Bal released after being detained in home raid

 

Kurdish Xwebûn newspaper editor Nafiye Bal, who was detained during a raid on her home on 23 October 2023 as part of an investigation launched on 25 April 2023 and covered 21 provinces was brought to the Diyarbakır Courthouse on 24 October, following procedures at the police station. Following her statement at the prosecutor’s office, Bal was referred to a Criminal Judgeship of Peace with a request for judicial control measures to be imposed on her. Bal was released under judicial control measures and an international travel ban.

 

At the police station, Bal was questioned about whether she had a connection to the organization, the code name she allegedly used, whether she had planned any actions with the organization and from whom they had received instructions for the actions they allegedly undertook. Bal responded: “I have no relationship with or connection to the organization. I have not used any code name. As I did not undertake any actions on behalf of the organization, I did not receive instructions from anyone. I do not know any person in the organization.”

 

Investigation launched against journalist Oktay Candemir

 

The Van Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation against journalist Oktay Candemir, who criticized the Minister of Interior sharing images taken during recent police raids on homes in Van.

 

Candemir was released after giving his statement on 24 October 2023.

 

On his social media account, Candemir had written, “People whose guilt will be decided by the courts, who will perhaps be released at the prosecutor investigation stage have their doors based in during operations. Those terrible moments are then broadcast with the person’s address and face clearly visible, as though it were a great achievement.”

 

 

Prosecutor requests sentence for journalist Beritan Canözer at the first hearing

 

The trial of JinNews reporter Beritan Canözer on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization” began at the Diyarbakır 10th High Criminal Court on 25 October 2023.

 

Canözer and her lawyer were present at the hearing.

 

Presenting their final opinion on the case, the prosecutor requested Canözer to be sentenced for the impugned crime.

 

The court grandted Canözer and her lawyer time to prepare their statement in response to the prosecutor’s opinion and adjourned the trial until 8 December 2023.

 

Prosecutor requests sentence for journalist Fırat Bulut for “spreading false information”

 

The second hearing in the trial of journalist Fırat Bulut on the charge of “spreading false information” over his social media posts concerning the earthquakes which took place in Kahramanmaraş on 6 February 2023 was held at the Elbistan 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 24 October 2023.

 

Bulut, who was abroad, did not attend the hearing.

 

Submitting their final opinion on the case, the prosecutor requested sentencing for Bulut.

 

The court adjourned the trial until 12 December 2023.

 

Bulut had been detained at Ankara Esenboğa Airport on 10 March 2023 as he was returning from the earthquake affected province of Malatya and had spent two days in detention before being released.

 

Prosecutor requests sentence for journalist İsmail Arı

The third hearing in the trial of BirGün newspaper reporter İsmail Arı on the charge of “insulting a public official” was held at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 24 October 2023. The accusation stems from Arı's report titled “Deniz manzaralı araziyi Varank’ın kuzeni kaptı” (“Varak’s cousin lands plot with sea view”) about the cousin of former Minister of Industry and Technology and serving AKP MP for Bursa Mustafa Varank winning the tender held for a plot of land with a sea view in Bodrum.

Varank’s lawyer was present at the hearing, which journalist Arı did not attend.

Presenting their final opinion on the case, the prosecutor requested sentencing for Arı. Varank’s lawyer stated that they agreed with the prosecutor’s final opinion.

The court adjourned the trial until 28 November 2023.

 

Secret witness to be heard in journalist Hayri Demir's trial

 

The second hearing in the retrial of journalist Hayri Demir on the charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “terrorism propaganda” was held at the Ankara 15th High Criminal Court on 25 October 2023. The retrial had begun after the 22nd Criminal Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice had overturned the previous verdict.

 

Demir and his lawyer were present at the hearing.

 

Delivering a statement against the appellate court’s reversal judgment, Demir said that the articles subject to the ruling were from 2014 and the statute of limitations prescribed in the Press Law had expired. Demir reminded the court that the content of these reports had not been included during the investigation phase and that as the reports did not contain personal commentary, they could not be used to establish grounds for the impugned crimes.

 

Demir’s lawyer also said that the content of the reports was not included in the case file.

Issuing an interim ruling following statements, the court decided to inquire of the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office about the subject of the investigation recently added to the file, for a decision to be made concerning this investigation and for it to be conveyed to the court.

 

The court also decided to hear the secret witness who had testified against Demir during the investigation at the next hearing.

 

The trial was adjourned until 24 January 2024.

 

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had launched an investigation against Demir, who reported on-site on the Syrian civil war in 2015, following the memory drives that contained photos and videos he took in Syria were delivered to the Ankara Police Department after they were stolen from the journalist's home.

At the final hearing of his initial trial, held on 21 December 2022, the court acquitted Demir of “membership in a terrorist organization” but sentenced the journalist to 1 year, 21 months and 22 days in prison for "terrorism propaganda," citing a report on a documentary and a video for a music track as evidence for the crime.

Reviewing the appeal, the 22nd Criminal Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice overturned Demir’s acquittal citing a legal necessity for the joinder of another investigation launched against Demir by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2023 on the allegation of “membership in a terrorist organization” with the present case file. The appellate court also reversed the sentence Demir had been given on the charge of “terrorism propaganda,” ruling that it should have been “increased by on half as per provisions for repeated offences.”

 

Witness police officer admits to “signing the report without witnessing the incident” at Bülent Kılıç's trial

 

The trial of AFP photojournalist Bülent Kılıç who was assaulted and detained while covering the Pride March in Istanbul in 2021 on charges of “resisting to prevent fulfilment of duty” and “insulting a public official” began at the İstanbul 19th Criminal Court of First Instance on 26 October 2023.

 

Kılıç and his lawyer attended the hearing.

 

Delivering his defense statement, Kılıç said that the police officers had tortured him and he had been beaten up by two of the police officers involved in the case as “co-plaintiffs.”

 

One of the witness police officers who had signed the incident report that led to the prosecution of Kılıç said he had signed the report without having seen the incident.

 

Kılıç’s lawyer said, “We can see how problematic this report is from one of the signing police officers saying ‘we were asked to sign it as a group, so we did’” and added that the legal consequences of the case were no longer valid.

 

The court refused the request for the Beyoğlu Police Chief to be heard as witness and decided to request the images of the incident recorded by the journalist. The case was adjourned until 15 February 2024.

 

Trial of 11 journalists on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization” adjourned until January

 

The third hearing in the trial of 11 journalists who were released on 16 May 2023 after seven months in pre-trial detention in Ankara on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization” was held at the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court on 26 October 2023. The journalists on trial are Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) managing editor Diren Yurtsever, MA reporters Berivan Altan, Ceylan Şahinli, Deniz Nazlım, Emrullah Acar, Hakan Yalçın, Selman Gözelyuz and Zemo Ağgöz, JinNews reporters Habibe Eren and Öznur Değer, and Mehmet Günhan, who worked as an intern at the Ankara office of the MA for a while.

Deniz Nazlım, Hakan Yalçın and their lawyers attended the hearing.

The witness, who attended a hearing for the first time from Kandıra Prison where they are being held via the judicial videoconferencing system, said that they did not know whether MA or JinNews had a connection with the “organization.” The witness added that they did not know the journalists, members of the organization had “code names” and therefore they would not be able to recognize the journalists from their names.

The defense reminded the court of the cameras and computers belonging to the journalists which were confiscated on 25 October 2022 and never returned and requested an interim order for the immediate return of the equipment to their owners.

The court ruled to return the digital equipment belonging to the journalists and to correspond with the Ankara Police Department for the witness identifying the journalists.

The trial was adjourned until 18 January 2024.

 

File sent to prosecutor’s office for final opinion in retrial of the “Altans case”

 

The second hearing in the retrial of Ahmet Altan, Nazlı Ilıcak, Fevzi Yazıcı and Yakup Şimşek, whose previous sentences had been overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeals, was held at the İstanbul 26th High Criminal Court on 26 October 2023.

 

Ilıcak, Yazıcı, Şimşek and their lawyers as well as Ahmet Altan’s lawyer attended the hearing.

 

Yazıcı said, “There is a letter the police planted on my flash memory card. During the previous trial, the court did not call for an expert’s opinion. We obtained it through our own means. We request that the court obtain an expert’s opinion.”

 

The court ruled to keep the international travel ban in place, rejected the request for an expert opinion and ordered the file to be sent to the prosecutor’s office for the final opinion on the case to be drafted.

 

The trial was adjourned until 14 February 2024.

 

Journalists Pınar Gayıp and Mehmet Acettin’s trial adjourned until February

 

The trial of Etkin news agency (ETHA) editor Pınar Gayıp and Managing Editor Mehmet Acettin on the charge of “denigrating the state of the Republic of Turkey” over various articles that published on the website on different dates continued at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 24 October 2023.

 

The court ordered the file to be sent to the prosecutor’s office for the final opinion to be drafted.

 

The trial was adjourned until 8 February 2024.

 

Retrial of filmmaker Çayan Demirel and journalist Ertuğrul Mavioğlu adjourned until December

 

The sixth hearing in the retrial of filmmaker Çayan Demirel and journalist Ertuğrul Mavioğlu on the charge of “terrorism propaganda” over the documentary they co-directed, "Bakur" (North), was held at the Batman 2nd High Criminal Court on 26 October 2023.

 

Demirel and Mavioğlu, who had been granted an exemption, were not in attendance, while Mavioğlu’s lawyer was present at the hearing. Demirel’s lawyer attended via the judicial videoconferencing network SEGBİS.

 

The prosecutor repeated their previously submitted opinion and requested sentencing for Demirel and Mavioğlu.

The court granted the defense time to prepare their statements in response to the prosecutor's final opinion and adjourned the trial until 14 December 2023.

 

Journalist Hakkı Boltan, who was late to a hearing, to be brought in by force

 

The second hearing in the retrial of journalist Hakkı Boltan on charges of “insulting the president” and “insulting a public official” was held at the Diyarbakır 12th Criminal Court of First Instance on 26 October 2023.

 

The acting judge, presiding in place of the appointed judge, who was on leave, issued an order for Boltan to be brought in by force to the next hearing on the grounds that he had not attended the hearing, after Boltan was late to the hearing.

 

The trial was adjourned until 5 March 2024.

 

Journalist Can Dündar’s trial adjourned until March

 

The seventh hearing in the trial of exiled journalist Can Dündar on charges of “obtaining information that should remain confidential for reasons relating to the security of the state for political or military espionage” and “disclosing information that should remain confidential for political or military espionage” was held at the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court on 25 October 2023.

 

The defendant and his counsel did not attend the hearing.

 

The court ruled to await the execution of the order for Dündar's arrest and adjourned the trial until 26 March 2024.

 

Trial of journalists Can Dündar and İnal Kızılkaya adjourned until April 2024

The 22nd hearing in the trial of journalists Can Dündar and İnan Kızılkaya on the charge of “insulting a public official” was held at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 26 October 2023.

Nobody attended the hearing.

The court ruled to await the execution of the order for Dündar’s arrest and adjourned the trial until 18 April 2024.

The accusation stems from a report titled “Saray rejiminin en kullanışlı hakimi” (“The most useful judge of the Palace regime”), published on 22 June 2016 in the now-defunct Özgür Gündem newspaper, when Dündar edited the newspaper for a day as the “editor-in-chief on duty” as part of a solidarity campaign held that year.

 

Trial of journalists Ozan Kaplanoğlu, Hatice Nur Derya and Burhan Gökay Küpeli adjourned until November

 

The latest hearing in the trial of Bursa Muhalif newspaper Managing Editor Ozan Kaplanoğlu, editor Hatice Nur Derya and cameraman Burhan Gökay Küpeli on the charge of “violating the Law 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations” was held at the Bursa 8th Criminal Court of First Instance on 27 October 2023.

The court ruled to issue an order to receive the statement of one of the defendants and adjourned the trial until 24 November 2023.

 

At least 44 journalists and media workers in prison

Following the imprisonment of Yeni Yaşam newspaper distributor Selahattin Kaygusuz this week, as of 27 October 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 viewed here.