Expression Interrupted

Journalists and academics bear the brunt of the massive crackdown on freedom of expression in Turkey. Scores of them are currently subject to criminal investigations or behind bars. This website is dedicated to tracking the legal process against them.

Journalist Erkan Akkuş jailed pending trial

Journalist Erkan Akkuş jailed pending trial

Akkuş, a former anchor and news director at the now-defunct TV stations Kanaltürk and Bugün TV, is charged with “membership of a terrorist organization” 

 

Erkan Akkuş, a former newscaster and news director at the shuttered television channels Kanaltürk and Bugün TV, was jailed pending trial on 24 August 2020. Akkuş is charged with “membership of a terrorist organization.”

Akkuş was arrested on 21 August by anti-terror police in his parents' home in Kocaeli province after an informant disclosed his location. The Kocaeli Police Department transferred Akkuş to Istanbul, where an investigation had been launched against the journalist over his alleged connection with the “media leg of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization/Parallel State Structure (FETÖ/PDY).” It turned out that an arrest warrant had been in place for the journalist.

After being questioned at the Istanbul Police Department, Akkuş was taken to the Istanbul Courthouse on 24 August. According to details of Akkuş’s interrogation at the police department and the public prosecutor revealed by pro-government media, Akkuş was questioned about several Twitter posts he shared in 2016 and a book about the Gülen movement that was confiscated in his apartment. Following the interrogation, the public prosecutor referred Akkuş to a criminal judgeship of peace, seeking his imprisonment on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organization.” 

Ruling in line with the public prosecutor’s request, Istanbul’s 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace jailed Akkuş pending trial. Akkuş was sent to the Silivri Prison.

Top