Journalist Perihan Kaya has been sentenced to 1 year, 6 months, and 22 days in prison on charges of “terrorism propaganda” in her retrial

ARDIL BATMAZ, DİYARBAKIR

The 10th hearing in the trial of journalist Perihan Kaya on charges of “terrorism propaganda” was held at the Diyarbakır 10th High Criminal Court on 7 January 2025.

Kaya's lawyer, Resul Temur, was present at the hearing, which was monitored by P24. Kaya, who resides abroad, did not attend the hearing.

At the ninth hearing held on 24 December 2025, the prosecutor presented their final opinion on the case and requested that Kaya be punished for the impugned crime.

Resul Temur, who presented the defense against the prosecutor’s opinion said, "The social media account in question was investigated when there was no investigation against the client. The virtual patrol regulation has been annulled by the Constitutional Court. For this reason, the evidence in question should not be taken into account in the ruling."

Continuing his defense, Temur referred to the case law of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights, stating that the news-related posts in question could not be considered criminal acts and requested an acquittal.

Announcing its decision, the court sentenced Kaya to 1 year, 6 months, and 22 days in prison for “terrorism propaganda.” Kaya, who had previously received a suspended sentence in a case in Tunceli, was not granted a suspended sentence in this case on the grounds that she committed a crime during the probation period.

Background of the case

A case was brought against journalist Perihan Kaya on charges of “terrorism propaganda” and “membership in a terrorist organization” on the grounds of her membership in the now-defunct Free Journalists Association (ÖGC), her social media posts, her telephone conversations with colleagues, and secret witness statements, alleging that she was “responsible for the KCK structure in the press field.”

In the indictment, eight posts allegedly made on Kaya's Facebook account in 2015, and 24 tweets of unknown dates were presented as evidence for the charges against Kaya.

At the first hearing on 24 March 2021, Kaya was sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison for “terrorism propaganda” but was acquitted of the “membership in a terrorist organization.”

However, the appeals court overturned the local court's decision on the grounds that the chain of offenses had not been taken into account and that the sentence was insufficient, and sent the case back for retrial.