Journalism and freedom of expression trials: Week of June 13

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

June 13th, Monday

• The third hearing of the trial in which the Secretary of the Diyarbakır Provincial Coordination Board of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) Doğan Hatun faces “publicly degrading the Turkish nation, state government and the state’s judicial bodies” charge will be held in the Diyarbakır 8th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 13:30. The indictment presents the July 14th 2020 press statement made in front of the Diyarbakır building of the General Directorate of Highways after it was announced that the remaining zones within the premises of the 9th Regional Directorate of Highways, which was already partly consigned to the Directorate of Religious Affairs for the construction of a mosque and its campus will be opened for further development.

June 14th, Tuesday

• The eighth hearing of the trial in which journalist Rüstem Batum whom MLSA represents in court, faces “insulting the president” and “inciting the public to hatred” charges will be held in the Istanbul 5th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09:45. The indictment presents 20 tweets Batum had posted between 2016 - 2018 as evidence against the journalist.
• The first hearing of the trial in which journalist Mehmet Erol whom MLSA represents in court, faces “insulting a public official” charge (on two accounts) will be held in the Bakırköy 22nd Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10:15. In the one and a half page indictment written by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, it is claimed that Erol insults Devlet Bahçeli, the head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Minister of the Interior Süleyman Soylu.
• The fourth hearing of “the Özgürlükçü Demokrasi” retrial in which journalists İhsan Yaşar, İshak Yasul, Mehmet Ali Çelebi, Mizgin Fendik, Pınar Tarlak, Reyhan Hacıoğlu and Hicran Urun face “membership of 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 10:40. 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.” Presenting his final opinion at the hearing held on April 7th, the prosecutor requested that Mizgin Fendik be acquitted; that Hicran Urun, Mehmet Ali Çelebi, Reyhan Hacıoğlu, İshak Yasul and Pınar Tarlak be sentenced for “membership of a terrorist organization”, “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” and “printing or publishing the leaflets and declarations of terrorist organizations.”
• The 13th hearing of the trial in which exiled artist Ferhat Tunç faces “insulting the president” charge will be held in the Büyükçekmece 14th Criminal Court of the First Instance, at 11:40. The indictment presents several tweets Tunç had posted in 2016 as evidence against him.
• The fourth hearing of the retrial in which Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Erol Önderoğlu and Ahmet Nesin face “making propaganda for a terrorist organization”, “incitement to commit an offense” and “praising an offense and an offender” charges will be held in the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court, at 13:30. Şebnem Korur Fincancı and Erol Önderoğlu are being retried at the “Özgür Gündem Solidarity Trial” after the 3rd Penal Chamber of Istanbul Regional Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal verdict of three human rights defenders on November 2020.

June 15th, Wednesday

• The second hearing of the trial in which the former Co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party Figen Yüksekdağ, the former Parliamentary Group Chair Deputies İdris Baluken and Çağlar Demirel and MPs Altan Tan, Ahmet Yıldırım, Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Mehmet Ali Aslan and Saadet Becerikli face “prevention of public duty”, “insulting a public official” and “insulting the president” charges will be held in the Silvan Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09:05. The indictment prepared by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office lists former Deputy of Silvan Chief of Police Osman Gündüz, “other security officers”, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and former Minister of the Interior Efkan Ala as complainants. The indictment presents the statements allegedly made by the MPs during the police intervention which took place as the MPs tried to walk to the Silvan district where a curfew was imposed on November 12, 2015; the press statement by Figen Yüksekdağ and the footage of the brawl which broke out after the police had intervened, as evidence against the MPs. The Diyarbakır 8th Criminal Court of First Instance which had accepted the indictment ruled lack of jurisdiction on the grounds that the events in the case file took place in Silvan and referred the case file to the Silvan Criminal Court of First Instance. After having held eight hearings, the Silvan Criminal Court First Instance decided to stay the trial against Hüda Kaya and Feleknas Uca who were among the charged, after they were reelected and separated their files in order to send their files to the Grand National Assembly. The court also ruled non jurisdiction as per the state of emergency decree numbered 694 which transferred the authority to investigate and prosecute members of the parliament to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and to local high criminal courts in Ankara and referred the case file to the Ankara 33rd High Criminal Court. After having reviewed the dispute between the courts, the Court of Cassation ruled in 2021 that the case be heard by the Silvan Criminal Court of First Instance. At the first hearing of the trial held on March 16, 2022 the court ruled to issue writs to prisons where İdris Baluken and Figen Yüksekdağ are held so that they can provide their statements over the audio-visual system (SEGBİS).
• The seventh hearing of the trial in which guerilla artist İzinsiz faces “insulting the president” and “publicly degrading the Turkish national flag” charges will be held in the İstanbul 20th Criminal Court of First Instance. The artist is on trial for the mural interventions made to the panels of Devrim Erbil paintings that were used to enclose the Kabataş port construction site. At the fourth hearing on October 14, 2021, the court decided that a committee of experts be formed so that the artistic value of the works of İzinsiz could be determined. At the fifth hearing of the trial held on January 13, 2022, the Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts notified the court that they do not have any experts who could determine the artistic value of İzinsiz’s work. The court decided that an expert committee be formed of three experts chosen from the experts list of the Ministry of Justice. At the May 26th hearing of the trial, the expert's opinion was read. The experts concluded that the painting cited as evidence for the Article 300th charge has an artistic value. On the other hand, the experts concluded that the drawing cited as evidence for the  “insulting the president” charge is “beyond artistic boundaries.” Presenting his final opinion at the hearing held on May 26th, the prosecutor requested that İzinsiz be acquitted of “publicly degrading the Turkish national flag” but be sentenced for “insulting the president.”
• The first hearing of the trial in which journalist Can Ataklı faces “publicly degrading a section of the public” will be held in the İstanbul 16th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 11:35. The indictment presents the statements Ataklı had made during his show “Gün Başlıyor [the Day Begins]” aired on Tele 1 on May 21, 2021. On the show, Ataklı commented on the brawl that broke out during the Rize visit of the İYİ Party leader Meral Akşener on May 20th. The prosecutor claims that Ataklı insulted the people of Rize with his comments. The indictment lists 40 complainants, including the Rize branch of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
• The hearing of the trial in which journalist İsmail Saymaz faces “insult” charge upon complaint by cult leader Büreyde Öncel will be held in the İstanbul 35th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 14:00. The indictment presents the statements made by Saymaz on a television show aired on Yol TV in 2020. On the show, Saymaz talked about how Öncel claims to be a “sheik” even though he was born in 1987 and mentioned that he was standing trial for child abuse.

June 16th, Thursday

• The sixth hearing of the trial in which journalist Cengiz Çandar whom MLSA represents in court and activist Kemal Işıktaş face “praising an offence and an offender” charge will be held in the İstanbul 30th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09:30. The indictment 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.
• The second hearing of the trial in which journalist Zübeyde Sarı whom MLSA represents in court, face “publicly inciting the public to hatred and hostility” charge will be held in the Bakırköy 24th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09:45. The evidence in the indictment are 11 social media posts, which were gathered by the police via “virtual patrol”, a method which the Constitutional Court found to be unlawful. The posts cited as evidence include posts which contain phrases like “the Dersim Genocide” and “Kobani.”
• The first hearing of the trial in which journalist İnci Aydın faces “identifying an official on anti-terror duty as a target” charge will be held in the Aydın 2nd High Criminal Court, at 11:25. The indictment presents an article published in the Women issue of the Yeni Yaşam daily on December 15th, 2021 and when Aydın was the managing editor. The article titled “İktidara notumuz yok lafımız var: Haksızlıklarınla göndereceğiz!” and penned by the Spokesperson of the HDP Women’s Assembly and Batman MP Ayşe Acar Başaran mentions Çitil’s name only twice. The prosecutor claims that via the article “Çitil is pointed as target for PKK and KCK.”
• The 22nd hearing of the trial in which since-shuttered Özgür Gündem newspaper’s editors-in-chief Hüseyin Aykol, Zana Bilir Kaya, managing editor İnan Kızılkaya and politician Hatip Dicle face “publicly degrading the government, the judiciary or the police force” and “publicly degrading the Turkish nation, the Turkish Republic and the Parliament” charges will be held in the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, at 11:30. The indictments present the news articles published in the newspaper as evidence against the defendants.

June 17th, Friday

• The hearing of the trial in which journalist Devrim Ayık faces “membership of a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the İzmir 2nd High Criminal Court, at 11:00. Journalist Ayık who has severe Crohn’s disease is being held in pretrial detention. At the seventh hearing on January 25th, the court rejected Ayık and his lawyer’s request to be released. At the 35th hearing of the trial held on June 3rd, the court ruled to separate the case file of Ayık.