Yetkin Yıldız, the former editor-in-chief of the news portal Aktif Haber, was arrested on 22 July 2016 as part of an investigation into “Fuat Avni” -- a Twitter handle that was active between 2014-2017 and that claimed to belong to an anonymous Ankara-insider leaking confidential information on the doings of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Yıldız was allegedly aiming to lay the groundworks for the July 2016 coup attempt by way of “manipulating public opinion,” “degrading state officials,” degrading state institutions” through social media on behalf of FETÖ/PYD (Fethullahist Terrorist Organization/Parallel State Structure). After three days in custody, Yıldız was brought to the Istanbul Courthouse on 24 July 2016, where he appeared before the 2nd Criminal Judgeship of Peace. The judgeship jailed Yıldız pending trial and sent him to the Silivri Prison.

The indictment against Yıldız was prepared on 16 January 2017, around six months after his arrest, and on 13 February 2017, the 25th High Criminal Court of Istanbul took up his case. In the indictment against 29 defendants, most of whom were journalists, Yıldız was charged with “attempting to overthrow the Government of the Republic of Turkey or preventing it from fulfilling its duties,” and “establishing and managing an armed terrorist organization.”

The first hearing of the trial was held from 27 to 31 March 2017 at the Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court. Delivering his defense statement on 30 March, Yıldız told the court that all press establishments had published news stories about the posts by the Twitter account called “fuatavni” but only a specific group of people were standing trial over their reporting. Yıldız said the allegations against him in the 190-page indictment covered only half a page. He said the allegations were that he published news on Fuat Avni and had TL 2,300 in a BankAsya account.” Yıldız requested to be released and acquitted.

Submitting an interim opinion at the end of the five-day hearing, on 31 March 2017, the prosecutor asked the court to release journalists Yetkin Yıldız, Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu, Murat Aksoy, Atilla Taş, Yakup Çetin, Abdullah Kılıç, Seyid Kılıç, Mustafa Erkan Acar, Hüseyin Aydın, Ali Akkuş, Bünyamin Köseli, Cihan Acar and Oğuz Usluer pending trial, taking into consideration the amount of time the defendants had already spent behind bars. In its interim ruling at the end of the hearing, the court ruled to release 21 defendants including Yetkin Yıldız pending trial, releasing eight other defendants in addition to 13 names whom the prosecutor asked the court to release. The court adjourned the trial until 27 April 2017.

However, the same day, the prosecutor objected to the trial court’s decision to release the eight other defendants. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office also launched a separate “coup” investigation and issued arrest warrants against the 13 defendants whom the prosecutor asked the court to release pending trial, including Yetkin Yıldız.

Rearrest 

Yıldız and the 12 other defendants who were supposed to be released were arrested outside the prison upon the order of the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and taken to the Istanbul Police Department. The grounds for arrest were listed as “the existing evidence against the suspects, the nature of the alleged crime, and flight risk.”

Yıldız and 12 other defendants were brought to the Istanbul Courthouse on 14 April 2017 after spending 15 days in custody. They appeared before the 12th Istanbul Criminal Judgeship of Peace, which jailed Yıldız and 11 other journalists (Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu, Yakup Çetin, Bünyamin Köseli, Cihan Acar, Abdullah Kılıç, Oğuz Usluer, Atilla Taş, Hüseyin Aydın, Murat Aksoy, Mustafa Erkan Acar, Seyid Kılıç) on the charge of “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order.” Ali Akkuş was freed under judicial control measures. Separately, the panel of the Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court (presiding judge İbrahim Lorasdağı and judges Barış Cömert and Necla Yeşilyurt Gülbiçim) and prosecutor Göksel Turan were suspended on 3 April 2017 by the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK).

The second hearing in the trial was held on 27 April 2017. The 25th High Criminal Court of Istanbul heard defense statements by Yıldız and his co-defendants, who requested to be released. Rejecting the requests, the court adjourned the trial until 6 July 2017.

Second indictment

A new indictment accusing Yıldız and 12 other journalists of “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order" and "attempting to overthrow the government" was issued on 5 June 2017. The 314-page indictment sought two aggravated life imprisonment sentences for all 13 journalists. The indictment was sent to the Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court to be merged with the ongoing “FETÖ media trial.”

The first hearing of the new indictment took place on 16-18 August 2017 at the 25th High Criminal Court of Istanbul. Making his defense statement at the hearing, Yıldız told the court that he was accused of “membership of a terrorist organization” in one case, for “staging a coup” in another, even though both indictments were practically the same. Yıldız requested to be acquitted. At the end of the three-day hearing, the court decided to merge the “coup” case with the “terrorist group membership” case.

Presenting his final opinion at the hearing that took place on 6 February 2018, the prosecutor asked the court to drop the "coup" charge against 13 defendants including Yıldız.

Prison sentence 

Yıldız made his final defense statement at the final hearing on 8 March 2018. Announcing its verdict at the end of the hearing, the 25th High Criminal Court of Istanbul convicted 23 defendants including Yıldız of “membership of an armed terrorist organization.” The court sentenced Yıldız to 7 years and 6 months in prison. The court ruled for the continuation of all jailed defendants' detention on remand.

Appellate court judgment 

On 22 October 2018, the 2nd Criminal Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice rejected the appeals against the convictions of 25 journalists and ruled for the continuation of the imprisonment of the detained defendants.

Supreme Court of Appeals overturns conviction

On 16 March 2020, the 16th Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the convictions of eight defendants in the case publicly known as the “FETÖ media trial,” including Yetkin Yıldız. The court uphled the convictions of 17 other journalists in the case. The Supreme Court’s verdict, which was made public on 12 May by the pro-government daily Yeni Şafak, was uploaded on the National Judiciary Informatics System (UYAP) on 8 June 2020, finally becoming official.

The court overturned the convictions of journalists Ahmet Memiş, Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu, Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu, Ünal Tanık, Yakup Çetin and Yetkin Yıldız on the charge of “membership of a terrorist group,” saying that there had been an error in the classification of the offense and that the six journalists should have been charged with “aiding a terrorist organization without being its member.” 

The case file was sent to the 25th High Criminal Court of Istanbul for retrial.

The full text of the Supreme Court's judgment (in Turkish) can be accessed here.

Subsequently, on 15 June 2020, Yıldız and five of jailed his co-defendants were released from the Silivri Prison in Istanbul after remaining behind bars for almost four years as part of the "FETÖ media trial."

Retrial

The 25th High Criminal Court of Istanbul set 4 November 2020 as the date for the retrial of eight defendants whose convictions were overturned. 

During the hearing, the court decided to abide by the reversal decision. After hearing the defendants and their lawyers in reponse to the new accusations, the court ordered the continuation of the monthly signature obligation imposed on the defendants on the grounds that it was a "proportionate" judicial control measure and set 31 March 2021 as the date for the second hearing.

The second hearing of the retrial was held on 31 March 2021 at the Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court. The court decided to lift the monthly signature obligation judicial control measure imposed on the defendants but ruled for the continuation of their travel ban. Deciding to initiate procedures for the witnesses to be heard at the next hearing, the court adjourned the trial until 26 October.

Other cases against Yıldız 

Upon the complaint of a presiding judge who was mentioned in a news story titled “Vakit gazetesinden şok iddia” (Vakit newspaper makes shocking claim) published on the website Stratejik Boyut when Yıldız was the editor-in-chief, a lawsuit was launched for alleged “insult” against Yıldız in 2010. At the end of the trial, Yıldız was sentenced to 10 months in prison for “insult” by the Ankara 35th Criminal Court of First Instance. The sentence was deferred.

Later, in a separate trial where Yıldız was accused over a report published on Aktif Haber about police officers at the Silivri Prison, the Silivri 1st Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced the journalist for "insult" (TCK 125) and "provoking the commission of an offense" (TCK 214). Since Yıldız received another conviction during the five-year probation period, the 10-month sentence he had been given by the Ankara 35th Criminal Court of First Instance was announced on 9 May 2019. The court suspended the sentence for 1 year.

Yıldız was accused of "insult" in another case launched upon a complaint by Bülent Akyar, a police officer at the Gümüşhane Police Department's anti-smuggling branch, over an article published in June 2014 on Aktif Haber and several other news websites, titled “Gümüşhane’de polis esnafı takibe aldı” (Police tracking shopkeepers in Gümüşhane). The indictment dated 9 February 2017 accused Yıldız and five other journalists of “insult" (TCK 125), "illegally obtaining or disseminating personal data" (TCK 136) and "violating the privacy of a person's private life" (TCK 134). The 10th and final hearing of this trial was held on 28 November 2019. Yıldız was acquitted of “insult” but sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison for “violation of privacy” and another 1 year and 8 months for “securing and disclosing personal data unlawfully.” The sentence was not deferred.

Former Interior Minister Efkan Ala's lawyers filed a complaint against an article published on 23 July 2015 on Aktif Haber, titled "Fuat Avni Suruç patlaması ile ilgili Twitter’dan çarpıcı mesajlar paylaştı" (Fuat Avni shared shocking posts about the Suruç bombing on Twitter). Access to the report was blocked following Ala's complaint. However, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office issued an indictment against Yldız over the news article on the grounds that it "was not fully removed despite access having been banned." The indictment dated 10 September 2018 accused Yıldız of "failing to comply with the decision of the judiciary to remove content.” This case is overseen by the Ankara 40th Criminal Court of First Instance.

Yıldız is accused of “insult" and "slander” in another case filed upon a complaint by Efkan Ala over the same news story. The indictment drafted by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on 14 December 2015 seeks punishment on the grounds that the statements in the news story were insulting and slanderous. The sentence Yıldız was given in the case publicly known as the “FETÖ media trial” is a prejudicial question in this case. The next hearing of this trial is scheduled for 2 November 2021 at the Bakırköy 31st Criminal Court of First Instance.

The Aksaray Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office drafted an indictment against Yıldız over a news report published on 25 June 2015 on Aktif Haber. The indictment dated 26 December 2018 accused Yıldız of violating Article 20 of Turkey's Press Law (encouraging suicide beyond the limits of furnishing information on such activities shall be sentenced to pay a major fine) and failing to comply with of Article 75 of the Turkish Penal Code, which stipulates that the determined penalty is to be paid within 10 days of any notification by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.