- A court decided to send a new request to Sweden to obtain Kaj Joakim Medin’s defense statement after a sworn translation prepared there mistakenly rendered the Turkish phrase for “taking a statement” as “extradition.”
- The court postponed the hearing until Jan. 5, 2027.
The trial of Swedish journalist Kaj Joakim Medin was postponed until Jan. 5, 2027, after a court found that a sworn translation prepared in Sweden had mistakenly rendered a Turkish phrase meaning “taking a statement” as “extradition.”
The Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court ruled that a new request should be sent to Swedish authorities so that Medin’s defense statement can be obtained in Sweden. The new request must explicitly state that Turkey is not seeking Medin’s extradition and is asking only for his defense statement to be taken.
Medin, who is represented by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), is on trial on an allegation of “membership in an organization,” with his news reports, journalism-related travel, articles and books cited as evidence in the case.
The fourth hearing in the case was held at the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court.
Representatives of the Swedish Consulate, the Swedish Union of Journalists and the Swedish Magazine Publishers Association attended the hearing.
During the hearing, an MLSA lawyer representing Medin told the court there was a discrepancy between the request sent by the court to Swedish authorities and the response received from Sweden.
It was determined that, in the sworn translation prepared in Sweden, the Turkish phrase referring to the “taking of a statement” had been translated as an “extradition procedure.”
The prosecution asked the court to complete the outstanding procedural steps in the case.
Medin’s lawyer then requested that the court revise and resend its request and arrange for Medin’s defense statement to be taken in Sweden.
The court ordered the necessary procedures to be carried out for Medin’s defense statement to be obtained in Sweden and ruled that the new request must make clear that Medin’s extradition to Turkey is not being sought.
The hearing was adjourned until 10 a.m. on Jan. 5, 2027.
