15 February Tuesday
- The fifth hearing of the trial where journalist Caner Taşpınar faces “insult” charges will be held in the İstanbul 11th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09:30. Taşpınar is on trial for his 2020 book titled Son-in-Law: Fethullahists In-Laws in the AKP. Taşpınar is put on trial after the former Turkish Parliament Speaker İsmail Kahraman and AKP founding members İhsan Arslan and Ali İhsan Arslan, who were mentioned in the book, filed criminal complaints against Taşpınar. At the last hearing on January 6, the prosecutor requested that Taşpınar be acquitted arguing that the depictions in the book do not constitute the crime of insult. The fifth hearing of the trial which was scheduled to be held January 25, 2022 was postponed because of the adverse weather conditions in İstanbul.
- The 16th hearing of the trial where 23 defendants, including Etkin News Agency (ETHA) editor İsminaz Temel, ETHA reporter Havva Cuştan and the lawyers of the Law Firm of the Oppressed (EHB) face “membership in a terrorist organization” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charges will be held in the İstanbul 27th High Criminal Court, at 10:30. The indictment presents the press conferences and events which the journalists covered as evidence against the journalists. After 16 months of pre-trial detention, Temel was released at the third hearing of the trial.
- The 13th hearing of the trial where 13 people including journalists Eylem Sonbahar and Sema Karakurt whom MLSA represents in court, face “defying the Law no. 2911 on Assemblies and Demonstrations” charge will be held in the Antalya 7th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 11:50. The indictment presents 15 people’s attendance at the G20 protests on November 15, 2015, including journalists Sonbahar and Karakurt who were covering the event as evidence against the defendants. At the 12th hearing of the trial held on January 11, 2022, the prosecutor requested that all the defendants except for the two whose files were separated from the case file be acquitted.
16 February Wednesday
- The sixth hearing of the trial where journalist Hayko Bağdat whom MLSA represents in court, faces “insulting the president” and “publicly inciting the public to hatred and hostility” charges will be held in the İstanbul 50th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 11:25. Bağdat’s trial began when İstanbul 50th Criminal Court of First Instance accepted the indictment dated July 24, 2019 by the Prosecutor’s Office. The first indictment presents Bağdat’s article titled “My last article on Erdoğan” published at ozguruz.org on April 14, 2017 and four tweets as evidence against the journalist. Two other indictments against Bağdat were prepared later on June 15 and June 25, 2020. The cases opened after these indictments were accepted by the court and were later merged with the ongoing case at İstanbul 50th Criminal Court of First Instance. The June 25th indictment has added “publicly inciting the public to hatred and hostility” to the charges journalist Bağdat faces.
17 February Wednesday
- The first hearing of the trial where the Co-Chair of the Human Rights Association (İHD), Attorney Eren Keskin faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Tunceli 2nd High Criminal Court, at 09:00. The two-page indictment presents Keskin’s statements at a panel held in Dersim on July 28th, 2019 and a tweet Keskin had shared on her personal account on January 8th, 2018 in which she had shared her well wishes for Kurdish football player Deniz Naki who was targeted and attacked at that time. In the indictment, the prosecutor claims that Keskin had committed the offense in a consecutive manner and via press and asks for her sentence to be increased accordingly. The indictment was prepared after an investigation launched against Keskin during which her mother’s house was raided by the police on December 4th, 2021.
- The fourth hearing of the retrial of journalists Ahmet Memiş, Ali Akkuş, Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu, Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu, Ünal Tanık, Yakup Çetin, Yetkin Yıldız and musician and former Meydan daily columnist Atilla Taş the so-called the “FETÖ media structure trial” will be held at İstanbul 25th High Criminal Court, at 09:40. The 16th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation had upheld the sentences of 17 out of 26 defendants and overturned sentences of 8 defendants. The court justified its decision to overturn convictions based on the fact that there is insufficient evidence to prove that seven defendants (excluding Atilla Taş) are “members in a terrorist organization.” The court also overturned Atilla Taş’s conviction for “aiding a terrorist organization without being its member” charge, arguing that Taş’s actions constitute the elements of crimes of “insulting the president” and “denigrating the Turkish nation.”
- The second hearing of “the Özgürlükçü Demokrasi” retrial where journalists İhsan Yaşar, İshak Yasul, Mehmet Ali Çelebi, Mizgin Fendik, Pınar Tarlak, Reyhan Hacıoğlu and Hicran Urun face “membership in a terrorist organization”, “printing or publishing the leaflets and declarations of terrorist organizations”, “inciting the public to hatred and hostility”, “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” and “praising an offense and offender” charges will be held in the İstanbul 23rd High Criminal Court, at 10:10. On its decision dated March 5, 2021, the 27th Penal Chamber of the İstanbul Regional Court of Appeals had overturned the acquittals of Mizgin Fendik and Pınar Tarlak and the convictions of other journalists on the grounds that the sentences they received were “inadequate.”
- The second hearing of the retrial where journalist Barış Barıştıran faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Diyarbakır 8th High Criminal Court, at 10:10. Barıştıran, who stood trial for live streaming the Democratic Society Congress, was acquitted. The prosecution appealed the acquittal decision on the grounds that Barıştıran should have been sentenced in line with his opinion and took the case to a court of appeals. Diyarbakır Regional Court of Appeals overturned the acquittal decision on September 10, 2021.
- The second hearing of the trial where dokuz8HABER’s Chief Editor Gökhan Biçici faces “insulting the president” charge will be held in the İstanbul 8th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 11:15. The indictment presents a news report titled “Anonymous reacted to Erdoğan with the Berkin Elvan example” as evidence against Biçici. At the first hearing of the trial on November 25, 2021, the court accepted the intervention request by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
- The 19th hearing of the trial where the former Dicle News Agency (DİHA) reporter Şerife Oruç faces “membership in a terrorist organization” charges will be held in the Batman 2nd High Criminal Court, at 14:10. Oruç and two others were detained by police while reporting in the field. Oruç was arrested on July 5, 2016, on accusations of “membership of a terrorist organization”. After two years in detention in the Batman M-type prison,Oruç was released on July 9, 2018 but detained immediately at the prison gate because of an arrest warrant issued for her. She was later released on July 10, 2018. The secret witness who had testified against Oruç and whose statement led to Oruç’s arrest cannot be heard for the past four hearings as he could not be found.
18 February Friday
- The first hearing of the trial where the Co-Chair of the Human Rights Association (İHD), Attorney Öztürk Türkdoğan faces “insult by means of an oral, written or visual medium message” charge upon complaint by the Minister of Internal Affairs Süleyman Soylu, will be held in the Ankara 60th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 11:45. The indictment presents the press statement titled “A Necessary Statement About the Minister of Internal Affairs Süleyman Soylu” by İHD as evidence against Türkdoğan. The prosecutor claims that Öztürk attacked “the dignity and the honor of Süleyman Soylu by swearing at him.”
