The court has postponed the case until 20 January 20 to allow for the preparation of defenses against the prosecutor’s opinion, and has decided to continue the international travel ban on Akgül

CANSU PİŞKİN, ISTANBUL

The second hearing in the trial of journalist Elif Akgül, who is charged with “membership in a terrorist organization,” was held at the Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court on 4 December 2025.

Akgül and her lawyer were present at the hearing, which was monitored by P24.

In their final opinion on the case, the prosecutor, who considered Akgül's name appearing in the digital materials seized at the Istanbul office of the Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK) and her participation in HDK meetings as evidence, requested that the journalist be punished for the impugned crime. Akgül's name appeared on these lists, which the prosecutor considered as evidence, as a reporter and feminist.

Stating that the opinion was uploaded to the National Judiciary Information System (UYAP) hours before the hearing, lawyer Batıkan Erkoç said, "The prosecutor's office was notified on 30 September to prepare their opinion on the case. However, the opinion was uploaded to UYAP 19 hours ago. Therefore, it was not possible for us to prepare a defense. We request time for the defense. If the opinion had arrived on time, my client's judicial control would have been lifted today. The continuation of judicial control will lead to a violation of rights. We request that judicial control be lifted."

The court accepted the request for time and decided to continue the ban on Akgül leaving the country. The trial was postponed until 20 January 2026.

Background of the case

Elif Akgül was detained on 18 February 2025, during simultaneous house raids conducted as part of the HDK investigation, and was sent to pre-trial detention on 21 February.

In her police statement, Akgül was questioned about phone wiretaps and open source research dating back to 2012. One of the phone conversations used as evidence against Akgül concerned the police intervention at the DİSK building on 1 May 2013, Labor Day. In the conversation, Akgül was informing a colleague at the computer about what was happening. In a conversation dated 3 June 2013, Akgül was again talking to a colleague from bianet news site.

The indictment against Akgül was completed on 24 April and sent to the Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court. The court returned the indictment on the grounds that the connection between Akgül and Mehmet Saltoğlu, the other suspect in the indictment, had not been established. The prosecutor’s office then appealed the return decision to the Istanbul 26th High Criminal Court. The Istanbul 26th High Criminal Court upheld the prosecution's appeal and accepted the indictment.

After a return and appeal process lasting more than one month, the Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court, which accepted the indictment, decided on 2 June to release the journalist, taking into account the time Akgül had spent in custody and the fact that most of the evidence had been gathered