The retrial of journalist Ayşegül Doğan, whose prison term was overturned by the appellate court, has commenced. The court has ruled to uphold the international travel ban on Doğan and adjourned the trial until 25 January 2023

BİRCAN DEĞİRMENCİ, DİYARBAKIR

The first hearing in the retrial of Ayşegül Doğan, the programming coordinator for now-defunct İMC TV and the host of the program “Gündem Müzakere” on the same channel, on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” was held at the Diyarbakır 9th High Criminal Court on 17 October 2022.

Doğan and her lawyers attended the hearing, which P24 followed. The court heard Feridun Çelik as a witness at the hearing, which began after an hour’s delay. Çelik stated that he was not aware whether Doğan had participated in meetings of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) or whether she was a DTK delegate. Çelik added that Doğan presented a program on İMC TV and pursued her journalistic activities during the period subject to the charges,

In its decision to overturn, the appellate court had requested the Anti-Terror Directorate (TEM) to provide any available information, document or video footage proving Doğan’s activities aiding terrorist organizations. Emel Ataktürk, one of Doğan’s attorneys underlined that TEM’s response letter and the Forensic Medicine Institution (ATK) reports did not contain any information about her client’s involvement in any terrorism linked activities: “We have repeatedly tried to explain that my client had attended meetings as a journalist during the trial, however the court sentenced my client without considering our statements. The Regional Court of Justice has requested this matter to be investigated. As could be seen in ATK reports, the court at this stage is free to rule for acquittal without need for additional evidence. Therefore, we request my client’s acquittal.”

Referring to reports by TEM and ATK, lawyer M. Emin Aktar also said, “It is obvious that my client is not affiliated with any [terrorist] organization.” Lawyer Ahmet Özmen demanded that the court lift the international travel ban by stating that the judicial control measure obstructs the right to travel of his client, who is a journalist.

The court rejected lawyers’ demands for acquittal and the lifting of the judicial control measures, and ruled for witnesses, who did not appear before the court, to be brought in by force. The trial was adjourned until 25 January 2023.

Background of the trial

Doğan had been sentenced to imprisonment of 6 years and 3 months on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” at the hearing of the trial on 7 December 2020 over meetings and interviews with the administrators of the DTK and events she had participated in from 2010 to 2012 as a journalist. Doğan’s lawyers had filed an appeal against the decision with the appellate court.

The 2nd Criminal Chamber of the Diyarbakır Regional Court of Justice accepted the appeal and overturned the ruling on 10 March 2022 due to “making a decision on insufficient research and justification inappropriate to the scope of the case” and had returned the file to the court of first instance for retrial.

In its decision to overturn, the Chamber had ruled that the necessary procedure of assessing whether Doğan had participated in any other criminal acts, to identify whether there was other information, records or statements concerning her, to take the statement of the defendant and her counsel after reading out any statements or documents or their certified copies to them and evaluating whether they should be heard before the court as witnesses had not been followed.