Journalism and freedom of expression trials: Week of December 12

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

December 12th, Monday

• The seventh hearing of the trial in which 52 students of Boğaziçi University face “defying the Law no. 2911 on Assemblies and Demonstrations” and “deprivation of liberty” charges will be held in the İstanbul 49th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10:00. The indictment presents the social media posts with the tag #bundansonrasıbizde and the slogans the students shouted as evidence against them. At the sixth hearing of the trial held on 4 July 2022, the court gave additional time for defense lawyers to submit their written arguments and their evidence to the case file and to have their witness ready at the next hearing.

December 13th, Tuesday

• The third hearing of the trial in which 19 people, including journalist Zekine Türkeri, the Co-chairs of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in İstanbul Elif Bulut and Erdal Avcı face “defying the Law no. 2911 on Demonstrations and Assemblies” charge will be held in the İstanbul 49th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09.40.  On 21 November 2020, 22 people from the HDP İstanbul who wanted to hold a press conference about the operations carried out against the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) were taken into police custody. Initially, the İstanbul 49th Criminal Court of First Instance rejected the indictment on the grounds that the indictment contained arguments related to the offense of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” and lack any information whether or not there was a warning issued by the police for the crowd to disperse as required by the Law no. 2911. At the second hearing of the trial, the court rejected the requests for immediate acquitall and decided to subpoena the defendants whose statements could not be taken.
• The ninth hearing of the trial in which activist Kemal Işıktaş faces “praising an offense and an offender” charge will be held in the İstanbul 30th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10.35. The indictment in which journalist Cengiz Çandar has also been listed as a suspect, presents a 2017 tweet in which Çandar and Işıktaş commemorated Ayşe Deniz Karacagil who died fighting ISIS. In the indictment, the prosecution claims that Karacagil died fighting for a terrorist organization in Raqqa and that praising her on social media would constitute an open threat to public peace. At the eighth hearing of the trial held on 22 November 2022, the court decided to separate the case file of journalist Çandar. At the same hearing, the prosecutor presented his final opinion and requested that Işıktaş be sentenced for the offense he has been charged with.

December 14th, Wednesday

• The fifth hearing of the trial in which 10 people, including EMEP Dersim Provincial President Ergin Tekin, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Dersim Provincial Co-Presidents İbrahim Kasun and Nurşat Yeşil, the Dersim Branch Chairperson of Disk Genel-İş Şükran Yılmaz who were taken into police custody during a Dersim Labour and Democracy Forces protest against high cost of living at the Seyit Rıza Square face “defying the Law no. 2911 on Demonstrations and Assemblies” and “prevention of public duty” charges will be held in the Tunceli 1st Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09.35. The prosecutor presents the statements of the complainant police officers and the footage of the protest as evidence against the defendants. On July 19 2022, at the second hearing of the trial, the court accepted the intervention request by one of the complainant police officers. At the fourth hearing of the trial held on 18 October 2022, the court decided to send the case file to the prosecution so that the final opinion as to the accusations can be prepared.
• The sixth hearing of the trial in which journalist Metin Cihan and his alleged source face “illegally obtaining or giving personal data” charge will be held in the İstanbul 22nd Criminal Court of First Instance, at 11.30. The indictment in which the Turkey Youth Foundation (TÜGVA) is listed as “the injured party”, presents social media posts of Cihan through which he publicized the leaked documents about TÜGVA which show the corruption the foundation has been involved in as evidence against the journalist. Even though the prosecutor states that he failed to authenticate the content of the documents, he nonetheless claims that the documents have been “doctored” and requests up to six years imprisonment for Cihan. On 11  May 2022, at the third hearing of the trial, the court decided to release Ramazan Aydoğdu with judicial control measures imposed upon him and left the request of Cihan’s lawyer for the authenticity of the papers in question to be asked from the TÜGVA unanswered. On June 24 2022, at the fourth hearing of the trial, the court decided to issue a writ to the Ministry of Justice to inquire about the experts who were assigned to prepare a report but rejected to do so without providing any explanation. At the fifth hearing of the trial held on 19 October 2022, it was revealed that the expert who was assigned to the case file also withdrew from the file. The court decided to send the case file to another expert.
• The eighth hearing of the trial in which İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu faces “insulting a public official” charge will be held in the İstanbul Anadolu 7th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 11.30. The indictment presents the statements İmamoğlu made on November 4, 2019 and claims that İmamoğlu “insulted public officials who work as part of a committee because of their duties.” In a speech, İmamoğlu had responded to the Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu who called İmamoğlu “that idiot complaining about his country abroad” and said that “The real idiots are those who had the elections canceled” referring to the March 31st, 2019 elections which was canceled after the candidate of the ruling party lost. After İmamoğlu’s speech, the Supreme Election Council (YSK) filed a criminal complaint against İmamoğlu. The indictment lists the former head of the YSK Sadi Güven and 11 Council members as the injured party. Announcing his final opinion as to the accusations on April 20, 2022, the prosecutor requested imprisonment for İmamoğlu up to 4 years and 1 month. At the seventh hearing of the trial held on 11 November 2022, İmamoğlu’s lawyers challenged the judge on the grounds that he lost his impartiality because he decided not to hear more witnesses and because he reviewed a 24-page expert’s opinion during the hearing and in three minutes. The judge rejected the defense lawyers’ request for recusation reasoning that it is “intended to prolong the trial.” Upon the lawyers’ appeal, the judge decided to send the case file to an upper court for the appeals to the judge’s rejection of the requests for recusation to be reviewed.

December 15th, Thursday

• The first hearing of the trial in which the Co-chair of the Human Rights Association (İHD) Öztürk Türkdoğan faces “openly degrading the state of the Republic of Turkey” charge will be held in the Ankara 24th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 11.25. The indictment filed on 30 December 2021 presents a press statement published on the association’s website on 24 April 2017 and which was titled “Adalet ve Hakikat İçin Ermeni Soykırımı’nın İnkârına Son! [End to the Armenian Genocide denial for justice and truth!]” In half of the eight-page indictment, the prosecutor refers to various articles of international covenants and to numerous judgments of the European Court of Human Rights which guarantee freedom of expression and argues that the press statement in question cannot be considered within the scope of this freedom. Referring to the Grand Chamber’s Perinçek v. Switzerland judgment, the prosecutor argues that “no nation or community can be accused of genocide for tragic events which took place before 1948” and claims that “the statements in question bring the Turkish nation and the state of the Turkish Republic under suspicion before history.” The prosecutor argues that “it is unthinkable for a civil society organization which has been established according to the Turkish law, to carry out activities against the interests of the Turkish Nation, the state of the Turkish Republic.” Claiming that “the statements in question openly degrade the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish nation before history and international community”, the prosecutor argues that these statements cannot be considered within the scope of freedom of expression and requests that Türkdoğan be sentenced for “openly degrading the state of the Republic of Turkey.” In the petition addressed to the Ministry of Justice for a permission to be granted for criminal investigation to be launched against Türkdoğan, the judge points out that even though the enquiry report prepared by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office claims “openly degrading the Turkish nation and the Republic of Turkey”, the statements in question should be evaluated as “openly degrading the Republic of Turkey” and thus the permission for criminal investigation should be granted for this suspicion. The permission for criminal investigation was granted on 10 December 2021 by the Ministry. The prosecutor who prepared the indictment of this case had indicted Türkdoğan previously for “insulting a public official” upon complaint by the Minister of Internal Affairs Süleyman Soylu. In that indictment, the prosecutor had presented the press release of the association dated 29 June 2018. The Ankara 60th Criminal Court of First Instance which heard that case ruled to acquit Türkdoğan on the grounds that the elements of the offense Türkdoğan was charged with did not occur. The same prosecutor also indicted expelled sociologist and columnist Veli Saçılık for “insulting a public official (on two accounts)” upon complaint by the Minister of Internal Affairs Süleyman Soylu and the Chair of the Nationalist Movement Party Devlet Bahçeli.

December 16th, Friday

• The first hearing of the retrial of journalist Perihan Kaya over “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Diyarbakır 10th High Criminal Court, at 09.40. The indictment, which was filed on 30 November 20202, presents eight posts which were shared in 2015 on a Facebook account which was claimed to belong to Kaya and 24 tweets listed in an open source intelligence report compiled on 5 October 2018 as evidence for the charge. In the indictment prepared by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Kaya was also charged with “membership in a terrorist organization” for which Kaya’s phone conversations with her colleagues, anonymous witness statements, criminal reports via e-mails, Kaya’s travels abroad and Kaya’s membership in the Free Journalists’ Association which was closed down by a state of emergency decree, were cited as evidence. The first hearing of the trial of Kaya was held on 24 March 2021 and in which the prosecutor presented his final opinion as to the accusations. The prosecutor had requested that Kaya be acquitted of “membership in a terrorist organization” charge as “there is no definite and convincing” evidence to support the charge. However, the prosecutor also requested that Kaya be sentenced for “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.” At the same hearing, the court ruled to sentence Kaya to 1 year and 3 months in prison for “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” reasoning that it was established that she had committed the offense. Reviewing the case upon appeal by Kaya’s lawyer, a regional court of appeals overturned the conviction of Kaya and sent the case file back to the first degree court for retrial.

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