Journalism and freedom of expression trials: Week of February 21

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

February 21st, Monday

• The fifth hearing of the trial where 52 students of Boğaziçi University face “defying the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations no. 2911” and “deprivation of liberty” charges will be held in the İstanbul 49th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09:30. The indictment presents the social media posts with the tag #bundansonrasıbizde and the slogans the students shouted as evidence against them.
• The fifth hearing of the “Gezi Case” which has been merged with the “Çarşı Case” where 52 people including Osman Kavala, Can Dündar and Mehmet Ali Alabora face “attempt to abolish, replace or prevent the implementation of, through force and violence, the constitutional order of the republic of Turkey”, “damage to property”, “possession or exchange of hazardous substances without permission”, “damaging places of worship and cemeteries”, “qualified looting”, “qualified bodily injury” and “defying the Law no. 2863 on the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Property” charges will be held in the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court, at 10:00. The “Gezi Case” held at the Istanbul 30th High Criminal Court and in which Osman Kavala was also tried was merged with the “Çarşı Case” four days before the hearing scheduled for 6 August.
• The ninth hearing of the trial where journalist Durket Süren faces “willingly and knowingly aiding and abetting a terrorist organization” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charges will be held in the Diyarbakır 11th High Criminal Court, at 11:30. Journalist Süren was taken into police custody on March 1, 2019 in Diyarbakır’s Lice district while she was reporting. The indictment presents her tweets, phone conversations, her selling copies of Azadiya Welat and Özgür Gündem newspapers and her TV program titled “Women’s Perspective” aired on April 11, 2017 as evidence against her. At the eighth hearing of the trial held on December 13, 2021, the prosecutor requested that journalist Süren be sentenced for “making propaganda for a terrorist organization in a consecutive manner” presenting 14 social media posts shared between 2014-2016.
• The seventh hearing of the trial where the former Chair of the Diyarbakır Bar Association Ahmet Özmen and former Executive Board members Sertaç Buluttekin, Serhat Eren, Nahit Eren, Mahsum Batı, Nuşin Uysal Ekinci, Cihan Ülsen, Muhammet Neşet Girasun, İmran Gökdere, Velat Alan and Ahmet Dağ face “degrading the Turkish nation, state of the Turkish republic, the organs and institutions of the state” and “inciting the public to hatred and hostility” charges will be held in the Diyarbakır 13th High Criminal Court, at 14.00. The indictment presents the Bar’s official “April 24th Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day” statements from 2017 and 2018, its report documenting the use of military drones in Hakkari and former MP Osman Baydemir’s utterance of the word “Kurdistan” during a speech in the Assembly as evidence against the lawyers.

February 22nd, Tuesday

• The first hearing of the trial where the Co-Chair of Human Rights Association (İHD) Attorney Öztürk Türkdoğan faces “membership in a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Ankara 19th High Criminal Court, at 09:15. The indictment presents the activities Türkdoğan carried out as a human rights defender and eight news articles published in ANF between 2015 and 2020 in which Türkdoğan was mentioned, as evidence against the human rights defender.
• The eighth hearing of the trial where 38 people including journalists Mustafa Sönmez, Sedef Kabaş, Merdan Yanardağ and Bloomberg Business reporters Kerim Karakaya and Fercan Yalınkılıç face “defying Capital Market Law no. 6362” charge will be held in the İstanbul 3rd Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09:35. The criminal investigation was launched following Turkey’s banking regulator agency BDDK’s complaint. The indictment presents finance reporting and social media posts criticizing the government’s financial policies as evidence for the accusation of “economic coup attempt.”
• The second hearing of the trial where author and poet Gökhan Yavuzel faces “insulting the president” charge will be held in the Şanlıurfa 4th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09:40. The indictment, which was the result of an investigation which was launched against Yavuzel after he had been reported to the police, presents the statements Yavuzel made in a YouTube video as evidence against the author. The video made and published by Yavuzel was meant to be his reply against the death threats he received at the time. At the last hearing on September 14, 2021, the court decided to accept the intervention request by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the grounds that he might have been harmed by the alleged crime.
• The 20th hearing of the trial where since-blocked aktifhaber.com’s Editor-in-Chief Yetkin Yıldız faces “slander” and “libel” charges will be held in the Bakırköy 31st Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09:50. Yıldız is on trial after former Interior Minister Efkan Ala filed a criminal complaint against him. The indictment presents the news reports on tweets by an anonymous account called FuatAvni as evidence against the journalist.
• The first hearing of the trial where academic Hifzullah Kutum faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Elazığ 2nd High Criminal Court, at 10:00. The indictment presents 15 tweets and retweets which include the words “Kürt [Kurd]” and “Kürdistan” as evidence against the academic. The indictment dated November 8, 2021 was prepared five days after Kutum was reported to the police and an investigation was launched. Kutum was taken into custody on November 5th and was arrested on November 6th. After spending four days in detention, Kutum was released on November 10th.
• The second hearing of the trial where 3 human rights activists who had attended the February 3rd Press Statement called by the İzmir Labor and Democracy Forces in support of the Boğaziçi University, face “insulting the president” charge will be held in the İzmir 41st Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10:40. The indictment presents the witness statements of two police officers as evidence against the activists.
• The 24th hearing of the KCK Press trial where 46 journalists including Dilek Demiral whom MLSA represents in court, face terror-related charges will take place in the İstanbul 3rd High Criminal Court, at 11:45. 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. The indictment presents interviews, photos, press briefs that the journalists attended, correspondence with news resources and many other journalistic activities as evidence against the journalists. The trial has been going on for the past 10 years.

February 23rd, Wednesday

• The 22nd hearing of the trial where since shuttered Özgür Gündem daily’s former Co-Editor-in-Chief Hüseyin Aykol, former Managing Editor Reyhan Çapan and writers Hasan Başak and Kemal Yakut face “making propaganda for a terrorist organization,” “provoking to commit an offense” and “praising an offense or an offender” charges will be held in the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court, at 10:15. The indictment presents the news reports and articles in March 2016 in Özgür Gündem about “self-governance” in Kurdish provinces.

February 24th, Thursday

• The 15th hearing of the trial where journalist Kibriye Evren faces “membership in a terrorist organization” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charges will be held in the Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court, at 09:40. The indictment presents her activities as a journalist and her social media posts as evidence against Evren. Evren was arrested on Oct 11, 2018 and was tried in pre-trial detention. She was released at the eighth hearing of the trial held on November 11, 2019 after a 13-month detainment.
• The 13th hearing of the trial where Vice News reporters Philip John Pendlebury and Jacob Philip John Gingell (Jake) Hanrahan along with their translator and fixer face “membership in a terrorist organization by willingly and knowingly aiding and abetting, “terrorist propaganda, and “opposing the Law on the Prevention of Financing of Terrorism” charges will be held in the Diyarbakır 8th High Criminal Court, at 10:30. Pendlebury and Hanrahan came to Diyarbakır in August to document the events in Cizre, Silopi, Nusaybin and Sur where a curfew had been imposed. The reporters were arrested in Diyarbakır in August 2015 and were subsequently deported.

February 25th, Friday

• The fifth hearing of the trial where 23 people who had attended the Boğaziçi University solidarity protest in Kadıköy held in Kadıköy on February 2, 2021 with the call of the İstanbul Labor, Peace and Democracy Forces, face “defying the Law no. 2911 on Assemblies and Demonstration” and “prevention of public duty” charges will be held in the 38th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10:00. The evidence cited against the defendants in the indictment include social media posts about the protest and the slogans chanted by the protestors. Two students who were taken into custody on February 2nd and were sent to prison on February 4th, were released two months later at the hearing held on April 2, 2021.