41 journalists and media workers still in prison as the new judicial year begins 

The Opening ceremony of the New Judicial Year 2023-2024 will held tomorrow. According to MLSA, 41 journalists and media workers in Turkey are still in prison, for their journalistic activities.

The judicial year starts on 1 September every year in Turkey. President Erdoğan will attend the opening ceremony hosted by the Court of Cassation. 

In the new judicial year, the indictments and charges against journalists and media workers will again be on the media agenda. According to the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), the number of imprisoned journalists and media workers in Turkey is 41.

During the judicial holiday, Mezopotamia Agency (MA) reporter Fırat Can Arslan was detained on July 25 over allegations of sharing news about Prosecutor M.K and his wife's recent reassignment. The prosecutor is known for writing the indictment in a trial against 18 journalists in Diyarbakır, where 15 journalists were held in prison for 13 months on trumped-up charges of terrorism. Arslan is being held in Sincan F Type Prison No. 1 under Article 6/1 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK), which regulates the offense of "targeting people who have taken part in the fight against terrorism."

During the judicial recess, journalist Barış Pehlivan surrendered himself to the prison on August 16. On August 2, journalist Pehlivan was informed via an SMS from the Ministry of Justice that he was expected to turn himself over to the Marmara Low Security Correctional Institution (formerly Silivri) between August 1-15, 2023. Pehlivan has already been incarcerated four times due to his journalism, two of those being one day behind bars in February and May 2023 for the same sentence. This order would mark his fifth time behind bars.   

Journalists who were detained and arrested shortly before the judicial recess will also appear before a judge for the first time this judicial year. 

Mezopotamya News Agency editor Abdurrahman Gök and Mehmet Şah Oruç, a reporter for the same agency, were detained on April 25 as part of an operation against 216 people ordered by Diyarbakır 3rd Criminal Judgeship of Peace.

In June, Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court accepted the indictment against Abdurrahman Gök on charges of "membership of an illegal organization" and "making propaganda for an illegal organization". The journalist's trial will be held in September.

The indictment prepared by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against journalist Mehmet Şah Oruç was sent to Bitlis in June by the Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court for lack of jurisdiction. The indictment has not yet been accepted by the Bitlis High Criminal Court.

Dicle Müftüoğlu, co-chair of the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG), and Sedat Yılmaz, editor of the Mezopotamya News Agency, were detained on April 29, shortly before the judicial recess, as part of an investigation launched by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. Ankara 28th Heavy Penal Court returned the indictment prepared for 49 people, 5 of them arrested, Müftüoğlu and Yılmaz among them.  The reason of the court for the rejection of the indictment is not known, due to the confidentiality order about the case file.

On the same day as the new judicial year ended, Celalettin Can, spokesperson for the 78'ers Initiative, went to prison. Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office demanded writer Celalettin Can, who was sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison for participating in the Editor-in-Chief on Watch campaign launched in solidarity with Özgür Gündem Newspaper, to surrender to the nearest penal execution institution within 10 days for the execution of the sentence.