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Journalism and free speech trials: Week of June 29

Journalism and free speech trials: Week of June 29
This week several journalism and freedom of expression trials will resume at courts. Below is a list of this week’s hearings:

30 June Tuesday

  • Fourth hearing of the trial where BirGün daily’s Managing Editors Barış İnce and Cansever Uğur, as well as Executive Board President İbrahim Aydın and member Bülent Yılmaz face “willingly and knowingly aiding and abetting a terrorist organization without being a member” charges for news stories that were published in the newspaper about the anonymous Twitter account titled Fuat Avni between 2014 and 2016 will be held at İstanbul 32nd High Criminal Court

1 July Wednesday

  • Seventh hearing of the trial where artist Ferhat Tunç faces “inciting the public to hatred and animosity” charges for his social media posts will be held at Büyükçekmece 4th Criminal Court of First Instance this week. 

2 July Thursday

  • Sixth hearing of the trial where Human Rights Foundation of Turkey president Şebnem Korur Fincancı is accused of insulting Erdoğan based on a tweet she had posted during Gezi Protests in 2013 while he was the PM will be held at Anadolu 42nd Criminal Court of First Instance this week.
  • 19th hearing of the KCK Press trial where 46 journalists face terror-related charges, which has been dragging for the past 7 years, will take place at İstanbul 3rd High Criminal Court this week. 32 journalists out of the 46 who were taken into custody on December 20, 2011 were arrested on December 24 as part of an operation towards Kurdish media including Dicle News Agency, Özgür Gündem, Azadiya Welat, Demokratik Modernite and Fırat Distribution Inc. Interviews, photos, press briefs that they attended, correspondence with news resources and many other journalistic activities were used as evidence against them in the indictment. 
  • Sixth hearing of the trial where Cumhuriyet reporter Alican Uludağ and Cumhuriyet’s diplomacy reporter at the time Duygu Güvenç face “publicly denigrating the Turkish state and its judicial institutions” (Article 301) charges for their news story on Pastor Andrew Brunson titled “While the hostage diplomacy collapses” will be held at İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance
  • Third hearing of the trial where T24 news portal’s founder and Editor-in-Chief Doğan Akın faces “aiding and abetting a terrorist organization without being a member” charges based on T24’s reporting on anonymous Twitter account Fuat Avni’s posts between March 2014 - April 2016 will be held at İstanbul 25th High Criminal Court.

3 July Friday

  • Thirteenth hearing of the trial where human rights activists Taner Kılıç, İdil Eser, Özlem Dalkıran, Günal Kurşun, Veli Acu, Ali Garawi, Peter Steudtner, İlknur Üstün, Nalan Erkem, Nejat Taştan and Şeyhmus Özbekli (also called the İstanbul Ten) face “membership in an armed terrorist organization” and “aiding and abetting a terrorist organization without being a member” charges for attending a meeting titled “Protecting Human Rights Advocates: Digital Security” at Buyukada, Istanbul will take place at İstanbul 35th High Criminal Court.
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Medya ve Hukuk Çalışmaları Derneği (MLSA) haber alma hakkı, ifade özgürlüğü ve basın özgürlüğü alanlarında faaliyet yürüten bir sivil toplum kuruluşudur. Derneğimiz başta gazeteciler olmak üzere mesleki faaliyetleri sebebiyle yargılanan kişilere hukuki destek vermektedir.