Journalism and free speech trials: Week of September 13

This week, the hearings of several journalism and freedom of expression trials will be held. Below is the list of these hearings: 14 September Tuesday

• The second hearing of the trial where journalist Roza Metina faces “membership in a terrorist organization” charges will be held at Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court this week. The indictment which has been prepared for “The Democratic Society Congress Investigation” presents her membership of the since shuttered Kurdish Authors Association and so-called forbidden publications which were found during a raid of her house as evidence against Metina.
• The first hearing of the trial where the Journalists' Union of Turkey’s (TGS) Diyarbakır representative, journalist Mahmut Oral faces “membership in a terrorist organization” charges will be held at Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court this week. The indictment presents the fact that Oral was one of the founders of the since-shuttered Sarmaşık Association for Combating Poverty and Sustainable Development as evidence against Oral.
• The fifth hearing of the trial where journalist Buse Söğütlü faces “disclosing or publishing the identity of a public official on anti-terrorist duty and identifying them as a target” charge will be held at İstanbul 33rd High Criminal Court this week. The indictment presents Söğütlü’s retweet in which she quoted the news report by the newspaper where she worked and commented about the former Presiding Judge of  İstanbul 37th High Criminal Court  Akın Gürlek.  At the last hearing on April 14th, the court demanded that Söğütlü provide a defense against “insulting a public official” charge which is not included in the indictment.
• The 11th hearing of the trial where exiled artist Ferhat Tunç faces “insulting the president” charges will be held at Büyükçekmece 14th Criminal Court of the First Instance this week. The indictment presents several tweets Tunç had posted in 2016 as evidence against him.

15 September Wednesday

• The eleventh hearing of the trial where 22 defendants, including German-Turkish dual citizen Etkin News Agency (ETHA) reporter and social worker Adil Demirci face “membership in a terrorist organization” and “making propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization” charges will be held at İstanbul 25th High Criminal Court this week. Adil Demirci was released on February 14, 2019 after a 10-month detainment.

16 September Thursday

• The fifteenth hearing of the trial where 27 defendants including journalist and translator Meşale Tolu face “membership in a terrorist organization” and “making terrorist propaganda” charges will be held at Istanbul 29th High Criminal Court this week. The hearing will take place through two sessions; the second of which will be held on September 17th.