Eylem Sonbahar
An Istanbul court has ruled to request information from the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding ongoing investigations against journalists Erdoğan Alayumat and Mehmet Aslan in a trial where they, along with journalist Esra Solin Dal, are facing charges of "membership in a terrorist organization."
The second hearing of the case, which stems from their news reports and social media posts, was held at the 25th High Criminal Court in Istanbul. Dal, Aslan, and Alayumat were previously arrested but released after 24 days in detention.
Journalist Erdoğan Alayumat was present in court alongside his lawyers, Muhammed Ünsal, Habat Demircan, and Bülent Kaya from the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) Legal Unit. Mehmet Aslan participated via the judicial video conferencing system (SEGBİS) from the courtroom of the 4th High Criminal Court in Ankara.
When asked to present an additional defense regarding the accusation of "terrorist propaganda," Aslan stated that the case file consisted solely of his news reports. "The topics of my reports include the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan and the detention and arrest of journalists. I am a journalist; I report on any topic I choose and publish my work on the site I work for. I do not believe this is a crime. Journalism cannot be criminalized. We see how journalists are being arrested for their reports, particularly when it comes to the Kurdish issue. Today, as we can see, there are significant developments regarding the Kurdish issue. No news report should be classified as propaganda," he said.
Following Aslan’s statement, his lawyer, Habat Demircan, informed the court that an expert opinion had been submitted to the case file. "We request that this expert opinion be taken into account during the trial. The content of my client’s reports does not fall under Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK). There are no elements of violence or threats in his articles," Demircan argued.
The court decided to write to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office to inquire about the status of ongoing investigations against Alayumat and Aslan. The next hearing has been scheduled for May 6.
