Former Dicle News Agency (DİHA) correspondent Özgür Paksoy was detained for allegedly “resisting” and “insulting” the police during a police raid on the Özgür Gündem newspaper’s head office in Istanbul in August 2016.

After a three-day detention period, Paksoy and other journalists were referred to the courthouse on 18 August 2016. Paksoy and other journalists arrested during the raid were released after giving their statements to a prosecutor.

The indictment against Paksoy and 21 other journalists, issued on 29 September 2017, charged them with "insulting a public official" and "resisting a public official to prevent them from performing their duty."

The next hearing in the ongoing case will be held on 16 February 2021 at the Istanbul 5th Criminal Court of First Instance.

“Özgürlükçü Demokrasi case”

Paksoy was also charged with "publicly denigrating the Turkish Nation, the State of the Republic of Turkey, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the judicial bodies of the State" (TCK 301/1) over an article he penned with journalist Aziz Oruç, that was published in October 2016 in the Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspaper.

In an indictment issued on 12 April 2017, Paksoy, Oruç and fellow journalists Selman Keleş, Kenan Kırkaya, İshak Yasul and Ersin Çaksu were charged with offences under TCK 301/1-2 due to various articles and columns published in Özgürlükçü Demokrasi  in October 2016.

The indictment was accepted by the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance.

During the final hearing of the case on 28 November 2019, the court sentenced four journalists, including Paksoy, to 5 months in prison for "publicly denigrating the judicial bodies of the state.” Paksoy’s sentence was deferred.