The trial has been adjourned until 13 February 2023, as journalist Ölçen was abroad and could not deliver his defense

BİRCAN DEĞİRMENCİ, DİYARBAKIR

The 10th hearing in the trial of Ramazan Ölçen, publisher of the now-defunct Azadiya Welat newspaper, on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” was held at the Diyarbakır 11th High Criminal Court on 26 October 2022. Ölçen is abroad and his lawyer Resul Temur excused himself from attending the hearing, which P24 monitored.

The president of the panel of judges said that the order for Ölçen’s arrest had not yet been executed and that no response had been received from the Ministry of Justice for the preparation of a letter rogatory to receive Ölçen’s defense

The court ruled to await the response of the Ministry of Justice to the request for a letter rogatory and the execution of the order for his arrest, and adjourned the trial until 13 February 2022.

History of the case

24 newspaper distributors were arrested during a police raid on the headquarters of the Azadiya Welat newspaper in Diyarbakır on 28 August 2016, which was carried out as part of an investigation launched by the Diyarbakır Chief Prosecutor’s Office. With the scope of investigation expanding in the wake of the police operation, eight newspaper employees including Ramazan Ölçen were arrested during house raids on 4 March 2017 and released on 6 March 2022.

The Diyarbakır Chief Prosecutor’s Office then prepared an indictment seeking conviction of 15 years in jail for Ramazan Ölçen, who had been the licensed publisher of the Azadiya Welat since 2014, on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization.” The newspaper was shut down by Statutory Decree (KHK) 675 issued on 30 October 2016 under the state of emergency.

In the indictment prepared in 2018, resorting to KHK to shut down the Azadiya Welatnewspaper was cited as evidence for the impugned crime and Ölçen was claimed to have “acted in line with the aims and activities of a terrorist organization by being involved in the hierarchy of the organization as the owner of a newspaper.”

Other evidence cited for the arrest warrant were some books, newspapers and magazines which were seized during the police raid on the newspaper’s premises. The court had issued an order for Ölçen’s arrest to receive his statement since he has settled in Belgium.