Journalism and freedom of expression trials: Week of May 9

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

May 10th, Tuesday

• The 11th hearing of the retrial in which since-shuttered Dicle News Agency’s former reporter Ramazan Akoğul faces “membership in a terrorist organization” charge will be held in Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court, at 09:25. Even though Akoğul was initially acquitted of all charges in 2018, an appeals court overturned his acquittal and sent the case file back to the local court for retrial. Akoğul is accused of attending a road-blocking demonstration which he covered as a reporter. The prosecution had appealed to the acquittal decision, claiming that the fact that the demonstrators did not intervene with Akoğul shows that he has some “trust relationship” with “the organization members” and thus he should be sentenced for “membership in a terrorist organization.”
• The second hearing of the trial in which the Proprietor of Yüksekova News Portal Erkan Çapraz and the Broadcast Coordinator Ömer Oğuz face “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Hakkari 1st High Criminal Court, at 09:40. The indictment presents the February 13th, 2020 speech by Leyla Güven, the imprisoned former Hakkari MP of the Peoples’ Democratic Party being broadcasted on the YouTube channel of the portal as evidence against the journalists. Half of the three-page indictment prepared against Çapraz and Oğuz contains Güven’s speech. Referring to the Article 7/2-3 of the Law on Fight Against Terrorism, the prosecutor requests that an administrative fine up to five thousand days be imposed upon the journalists.
• The first hearing of the trial in which the Keçiören District President of the SOL Party Murat Güzel faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Ankara 27th High Criminal Court, at 10:00. The indictment in which a legally operating political party, Birleşik Devrimci Parti [United Revolutionary Party] and a high school students’ movement, Dev-Lis are listed under “terrorist organizations”, presents five social media posts Güzel had shared on his personal account as evidence against him. The social media posts in question include a retweet of the photo of Hıdır Aslan, the last person in Turkey who was sentenced to death and was executed by hanging. In the indictment, it is not clarified how the social media posts in question were detected.
• The first hearing of the trial in which author and poet Gökhan Yavuzel faces “insulting the president” charge will be held in the Şanlıurfa 4th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10:00. The indictment presents two tweets Yavuzel had shared on his personal account as evidence against the author.
• The eighth hearing of the trial in which musician Ferhat Tunç faces “ making propaganda for a terrorist organization” and “membership in a terrorist organization” charges will be held in the Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court, at 11:40. The prosecution requests imprisonment for Tunç for up to 20 years, citing his social media posts as evidence against the musician and claiming that he is a Democratic Society Congress (DTK) delegate.
• The 23rd hearing of the trial in which 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 13:30. The indictment presents the news reports and articles in March 2016 in Özgür Gündem about “self-governance” in Kurdish provinces.

May 11th, Wednesday

• The third 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 10:00. 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 showing 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 6 years imprisonment for Cihan.
• The ninth hearing of the trial in which Yeni Yaşam daily reporter Hatice Şahin faces “membership in a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Diyarbakır 9th High Criminal Court, at 10.05. Şahin was detained with 144 other people on October 9, 2018 as part of a criminal investigation against Democratic Society Congress (DTK). The indictment presents her flights from Diyarbakır to İstanbul and phone conversations with news sources as evidence against the journalist.
• The ninth hearing of the trial in which journalist Ziya Çiçekçi faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the İstanbul 33rd High Criminal Court, at 11:25. The indictment presents 13 tweets which were shared on the Twitter account of Yeni Özgür Politika daily as evidence against the journalist.
• The first hearing of the trial in which the Co-Chair of the Human Rights Association (İHD), Attorney Öztürk Türkdoğan faces “insulting a public official” charge upon complaint by the Minister of Internal Affairs Süleyman Soylu, will be held in the Ankara 60th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 14:00. 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.”

May 12th, Thursday

• The sixth 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 İstanbul Anadolu 38th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09:30. 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.
• The third hearing of the retrial in which since shuttered Azadiya Welat newspaper reporter Çetin Kurşun faces “membership in a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Mardin 2nd High Criminal Court, at 10:35. Kurşun was detained on February 6, 2018 along with his brother and was later released on May 30, 2019. The 3rd Penal Chamber of Gaziantep Circuit of Appeals overturned Kurşun’s conviction for “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” arguing that Kurşun should have been convicted for “membership in a terrorist organization”. In its remitter, Gaziantep Appeals Court stated that Kurşun’s conviction for “propaganda” is unlawful. The court reasoned that Kurşun has “organic connections” with the members of a terrorist organization and he published news articles on the website mentioned in the indicment according to the directives he received from said members of the organization.
• The first hearing of the trial in which journalist İsmail Arı faces “illegally obtaining or giving data” charge will be held in the İstanbul 58th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10:45. Journalist Arı stands trial upon complaint by Kerem Kınık, the President of Turkish Red Crescent. The indictment presents a news report penned by Arı in which he uncovered the amounts of heavy fines that Kınık and another top executive of the Turkish Red Crescent received from the Directorate General for Relations with Civil Society for malpractice. The hearing of the trial which was scheduled to be held on January 25th, 2022 could not be held as the judges and prosecutors were on administrative leave due to the adverse weather conditions.
• The second hearing of the trial in which journalists Olaf Koens and Pepijn Nagtzaam whom MLSA represents in court, face "defying the Law  no. 2565 on Military Forbidden Zones and Security Zones" will be held in the Edirne 5th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 11:10. In the one page indictment, the prosecution claims that journalists Olaf Koens and Pepijn Nagtzaam who were detained on September 27, 2021 in Edirne while covering the pushback of refugees by the Greek Army entered a forbidden military zone even though their entry was not “secret and under false pretenses.”
• The eighth hearing of the trial in which journalists Sadık Topaloğlu and Sadiye Eser face “membership in a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the İstanbul 22nd High Criminal Court, at 11.40. The indictment presents Topaloğlu’s travels abroad and a guest list for an award ceremony as evidence against the journalists. Eser and Topaloğlu were detained on Nov 29, 2019 shortly after they left the MA’s office and were arrested on Dec 3, 2019. Journalists were released at the first hearing held on March 26th, 2020.
• The second hearing of the trial in which poet and author Yılmaz Odabaşı faces “provoking the public to hatred and hostility” and “publicly degrading a section of the public on grounds of social class, race,religion, sect, gender or regional differences” charges will be held in the Alanya 6th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 12.00. The indictment presents a tweet Odabaşı had shared on his personal account and in which he criticized the state of the health system in Turkey and the influence of religious sects in the system as evidence against the poet.

May 13th, Friday

• The second hearing of the trial in which 3 human rights defenders who had attended the press statement on February 3rd, 2021 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 09:00. The indictment presents the witness statements of two police officers as evidence against the rights defenders. The rights defenders stand trial in another case in which they face “defying the Law no. 2911 on Demonstrations and Assemblies” and “prevention of public duty” charges. In addition to these charges, the rights defenders also face “insulting a public official” charge because of the testimonies against them by the same police officers. The first hearing of the trial was postponed because the judge was on leave. The second hearing of the trial which was scheduled to be held on February 22nd was also postponed because the judge tested positive for COVID-19.
• The eighth hearing of the trial in which journalist Engin Korkmaz faces “insulting the president” charge will be held in the Antalya 19th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09:25. The indictment presents the posts Korkmaz had shared on his social media account as evidence against him.
• The first hearing of the trial in which 19 people who were brutally detained by the police prior to the İstanbul Pride March which was planned to be held on June 26th, 2021, face “defying the Law no. 2911 on Demonstrations and Assemblies” and “prevention of public duty” charges will be held in the İstanbul 60th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10.00. The indictment prepared by the Terrorism and Organized Crime Bureau of the İstanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office does not mention the police violence targeting journalists and people on the Mis Street but requests that 19 people be sentenced.