- The hearings held this week once again made visible the ongoing structural problems in the field of freedom of expression. While the trials were largely postponed, journalists and rights defenders encountered physical and procedural obstacles in the courtrooms; in many hearings, practices that undermined the right to a fair trial were identified.
- Throughout the week, a total of 27 people were tried in nine separate cases. Eight of these cases involved journalists, while in one, a politician and a human rights defender were on trial; in another case, 14 students were listed as defendants.
- In most of the trials, the hearings remained at the initial or interim stages, and only in one case was an acquittal decision given.
One of the week’s hearings was the case filed against Cumhuriyet News Director Can Uğur. In the file opened with the charge of “disinformation” due to a news story about the LGS exam, it emerged that the indictment had not been served to the defendant for five months. The court postponed the hearing to September 2026 for the indictment to be served and the defendant to be brought before the court. The fact that the case has reached this stage without entering into the merits shows that the case has lost a year without effectively starting. Details about this hearing are in our news story titled “Indictment has not been served for five months: Can Uğur to testify one year after charges filed”: https://www.mlsaturkey.com/en/indictment-not-served-for-five-months-can-ugur-to-testify-one-year-after-charges-filed
Another important case heard in Istanbul was the one publicly known as the “expert witness case,” in which five journalists, including Barış Pehlivan, Suat Toktaş, and Seda Selek, are on trial. A decision for compulsory appearance was issued for the complainant expert witness, who has not attended the hearings for four sessions; in return, the travel bans abroad imposed on the defendants were lifted. Again, the merits were not discussed in the file, and the hearing was postponed to February. Developments are covered in our news story titled “Trial of journalists stalls for a year: Complainant expert witness 'missing,' court cannot reach him, no one knows him”: https://www.mlsaturkey.com/en/trial-of-journalists-stalls-for-a-year-complainant-expert-witness-missing-court-cannot-reach-him-no-one-knows-him
The second hearing of the case in which Can Öztürk and 14 students, who were detained while covering the Boğaziçi University protests, are being tried, was marked by serious violations of the right to a fair trial. Although the hearing was held in a large courtroom, families of the defendants, journalists, and national-international observers were not allowed in on the grounds of “no available space”; defense statements of lawyers were frequently interrupted. The court postponed the hearing to April on the grounds that deficiencies needed to be addressed. We covered this hearing in detail in our news story titled “Violations of fair trial in the Boğaziçi case: Journalist and relatives of defendants not allowed in courtroom, lawyers’ words were cut off”:https://www.mlsaturkey.com/en/violations-of-fair-trial-in-the-bogazici-case-journalist-and-relatives-of-defendants-not-allowed-in-courtroom-lawyers-words-were-cut-off
In the case filed against journalist İsmail Arı on charges of “defamation” and “insult,” the court ruled for a pre-payment on the insult charge and postponed the hearing to September 2026. In this file too, no assessment on the merits was made.
Another journalist, Zafer Arapkirli, was tried in two separate cases during the week. In one of the files opened due to social media posts, he was charged with “insulting the president,” while in the other, the charges were “inciting the public to hatred and hostility” and “spreading misleading information.” In both cases, the hearings were postponed to February and March for the prosecution to prepare its opinion. Arapkirli’s defense statements were featured in our news story titled “Zafer Arapkirli, on trial due to social media post: 'The aim is to silence independent media'”: https://www.mlsaturkey.com/en/zafer-arapkirli-on-trial-due-to-social-media-post-the-aim-is-to-silence-independent-media
In the case filed against politician Hüseyin Baş with the charge of “insulting the president,” the only acquittal decision of the week came. The court ruled that the statements in question fell within the scope of “harsh criticism and coarse language.” We reported the decision in our news story titled “Words directed at the President deemed “harsh criticism and rude address”: BTP leader Hüseyin Baş acquitted”: https://www.mlsaturkey.com/en/words-directed-at-the-president-deemed-harsh-criticism-and-rude-address-btp-leader-huseyin-bas-acquitted
In the file in which human rights defender Nimet Tanrıkulu is on trial with the charge of “membership in an organization,” the hearing took place under the shadow of objections that the panel of judges did not listen to the defendant and behaved harshly. The hearing was postponed to March to address deficiencies. Developments are covered in our news story titled “From Nimet Tanrıkulu to the judge: ‘You are not listening to me, you should not behave like this’”: https://www.mlsaturkey.com/en/from-nimet-tanrikulu-to-the-judge-you-are-not-listening-to-me-you-should-not-behave-like-this
Another prominent case of the week was the trial opened against a police officer over intervention in the 968th week protest of the Saturday Mothers. In the file subject to the simplified trial procedure, no hearing was held, and it was decided that the case would proceed on the basis of the file. We reported on this in our news story titled “Torture at the Saturday Mothers protest: Lawsuit filed against police officer, hearing not held”: https://www.mlsaturkey.com/en/torture-at-the-saturday-mothers-protest-lawsuit-filed-against-police-officer-hearing-not-held
Other developments of the week
In addition to the hearings, other developments occurred in the field of freedom of expression and press throughout the week. It was announced that the first hearing of the Rojbash film, which was banned on the grounds of being in Kurdish, would be held on January 16.
The Court of Cassation overturned the prison sentence given to journalist Özgür Boğatekin for “insulting the president,” setting an important precedent.
Academic Aslı Aydemir was released after six months of detention.
Journalist Nedim Oruç was detained while covering news in the southeastern province of Şırnak.
The death of former İzmir branch co-chair of the Human Rights Association (İHD) and lawyer-rights defender Ali Aydın as a result of an attack caused deep concern in legal and human rights circles.
