The journalist, who is on trial on “terrorism” charges, stated, “The case has been tried to be inflated with information that does not carry an element of crime”

DENİZ NAZLIM, ANKARA

The fifth hearing in the trial of journalist Hayri Demir on charges of “terrorism propaganda” and “membership in a terrorist organization” was held on 18 September 2024 at the Ankara 15th High Criminal Court.

Demir and his lawyer Nuray Özdoğan were present at the hearing, which P24 monitored.

The hearing started after the identification of the defendant and Demir made a defense against the merged indictment.

Demir also stated that the file included cases and investigations in which he had previously been tried and acquitted, and said, “The file has been tried to be inflated with information that does not carry an element of crime.”

Demir said: “In the entire file, I am being tried over journalistic activities. If you pay attention, even the book I did not write is dedicated to me. I am shown as the author of a book written by an Indonesian author named Paul White. Even this detail shows that the file was prepared in a cursory manner. Again, the fact that I shared a graffiti with a Kurdish phrase used in daily life is included in the scope of 'terrorism propaganda' and even the translation is wrong.”

Lawyer Nuray Özdoğan then took the floor and pointed to the MASAK report prepared about her client and said, “The report states the royalties received by the client from the institutions she worked for and the organizations she did projects with. It would be problematic if he did not receive them. The MASAK report shows this business relationship as the workings of an organization. Who are these institutions, which organizations? The client has been freelancing, that is, producing copyrighted content, for a long time.”

Özdoğan said that they will submit a copy of the accreditation card Demir received from the Suruç District Governorate in 2014 while traveling to Syria.

The court adjourned the trial until 20 November 2024 for the preparation of the prosecutor’s final opinion and defense statements.

Background of the case

In 2017, Demir was again charged with “membership in a terrorist organization” and “terrorism propaganda” over the news items he shared in Syria. The case was concluded in December 2022, and Demir was sentenced to 1 year, 21 months and 22 days in prison on charges of “terrorism propaganda” based on two news reports.

While the case was appealed to the appellate court, in the same period, an investigation was launched against Demir in 2023 by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on the allegation of “membership in the PKK/KCK/YPG/YDG-H armed terrorist organization.” The appellate court reversed the decision, stating that there was a legal necessity to combine the investigation with the case under review. The appellate court had decided to increase the prison sentence given to Demir on the charge of “terrorism propaganda” by half “by applying the provisions of chain crime” and sent the file to the court of first instance for retrial.