Two different indictments were merged in hearing held on 30 January in a trial where journalist Ahmet Şık was accused of “insulting state organs” in his Twitter posts which criticized the government, court reporter Elif Akgül who followed in the courtroom reports.
The hearing concerns tweets which İstanbul Prosecutor Asım Ekren treated as a crime and drafted an indictment. However, it emerged in yesterday’s trial that the same prosecutor had drafted yet another indictment for the same tweets, after Kerem Kocalar, a correspondent with the state-owned and strictly government-aligned Anatolia News Agency, sent a “tip-off” to the authorities on Şık’s dissident tweets.
The hearing was heard by the İstanbul 17th Criminal Court of First Instance. The suspect, Ahmet Şık, is a journalist, who has been in prison for 397 days (as of 31 January) as part of an investigation into the critical daily Cumhuriyet, where ŞIk is a correspondent.
Şık himself wasn’t present in the courtroom. His lawyer said Şık wanted to make his statement later in court while he is physically present, and not through the Turkish judicial video conferencing system called SEGBİS.
The offense of “denigrating state organs” is punishable with up to two years under Turkish Penal Code Article 301. The trial was adjourned until 22 May.
