Berk, tried in pretrial detention on a charge of "membership in an organization," was sentenced to six years and three months in prison on the charge of "membership in an organization." Berk was released with an overseas travel ban.
MLSA — The second hearing in the case of Cihan Berk, the Dersim correspondent of the Pir News Agency (PİRHA) who was arrested on Dec. 19, 2025, and tried in pretrial detention on a charge of "membership in an organization," was held at the Tunceli 1st High Criminal Court. Dersim is the local Kurdish-Alevi name for Tunceli, a province in eastern Turkey.
The hearing began about two hours late because of the court's workload. Berk, brought from the prison where he was held, was present in the courtroom. The hearing, attended by Berk's lawyers Kenan Çetin and Doğa İncesu, was followed by the Dersim branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD), Dersim Bar Association President Doğukan Kudat, and Berk's relatives and colleagues.
At the hearing, where the opinion on the merits had been submitted to the file, Berk gave his defense statement: "The only activity I have carried out is journalism. I have not conducted any organizational activity. To this day I have reported on many issues, including making heard the voices of villagers and of those who lost their lives in the earthquake, foremost among them Gülistan Doku. The news report and screening I produced about Ebru Timtik are being presented as a crime. Ebru Timtik was a lawyer registered with the Istanbul Bar Association who devoted her life to the legal struggle. She lost her life while in detention. The news reports I produced about her cannot be presented as a crime. I do not accept the accusations against me. There is an attempt to criminalize only my journalistic activities. I demand my release and acquittal." Gülistan Doku is a university student who disappeared in Tunceli in 2020 in a case that drew national attention; Ebru Timtik was a human rights lawyer who died in 2020 after a prolonged hunger strike demanding a fair trial.
Lawyers Kenan Çetin and Doğa İncesu said the prosecutor had prepared the indictment on the basis of assumptions and that there was no evidence in the file regarding the charges in question, and requested Berk's release, saying: "The only thing Cihan Berk has done is journalism; there can be no question of membership in an organization in the accusations against our client."
