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.

Normalization measures in courthouses hinder journalists’ efforts

Crowding in courthouses continues as courts resume hearings, raising questions on the effectiveness of measures taken against the spread of Covid-19

Top court rules Eren Erdem’s detention violated his right to liberty

Ruling that Erdem was unlawfully detained as part of the Karşı newspaper trial, the Constitutional Court orders payment of TL 30,000 in compensation

Top court: Selahattin Demirtaş’s detention violated his right to liberty

Despite the top court's judgment and the trial court’s release order in September 2019, Demirtaş remains behind bars due to his rearrest as part of another investigation

Six journalists released based on Supreme Court judgment

Trial court rules to release Ahmet Memiş, Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu, Gökçe Fırat, Ünal Tanık, Yakup Çetin and Yetkin Yıldız; sets 4 November 2020 as the date for their retrial

Journalist Müyesser Yıldız jailed pending trial

Yıldız, in custody since Monday on the allegation of “military espionage,” was jailed on the charge of “Disclosing confidential information relating to the political interests or security of the state

Supreme Court upholds convictions of 17 journalists

Supreme Court’s judgment, originally rendered in March, became official on 8 June

Journalist Mevlüt Öztaş sent to prison despite medical report

Öztaş’s condition is not fit for detention, according to a medical report issued by doctors treating the journalist for pancreatic cancer

Journalists Müyesser Yıldız and İsmail Dükel taken into custody

Odatv Ankara News Director Yıldız and Tele 1 TV Ankara Bureau Chief Dükel detained as part of an investigation on the allegation of “political and military espionage”

Three opposition lawmakers stripped of parliamentary status 

HDP’s Leyla Güven and Musa Farisoğulları and CHP’s Enis Berberoğlu taken into custody several hours after the decision was read out in Parliament and subsequently sent to prison

Top court: Cihan Acar’s re-arrest violated his right to liberty

Rejecting other claims in Acar’s application, the Constitutional Court rules that the journalist be paid TL 30,000 in compensation for his re-arrest

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