- Lawyer Sezin Uçar released as 50 defendants stand trial in 11 hearings across Turkey
- A total of 50 defendants went on trial in 11 hearings in the Turkish cities of Ankara, Istanbul and Diyarbakır this week, with concerns over the right to a fair trial recorded in several proceedings.
- Thirty-seven of the defendants were students, nine were journalists, two were lawyers and two fell into other categories.
- In a key development this week, lawyer Sezin Uçar was released at her first hearing after spending about six months in pretrial detention.
- In the Hakan Tosun case, the prosecutor sought convictions for two defendants on charges of intentional homicide.
- Fair-trial concerns were also documented during the week. Some hearings were held in small, poorly ventilated courtrooms where statements by the parties could not be heard clearly. Observers were prevented from entering some hearings, while a heavy law enforcement presence was also noted. In another proceeding, a witness said their statement had been taken under pressure.
A total of 50 defendants went on trial in 11 hearings in the Turkish cities of Ankara, Istanbul and Diyarbakır this week, with cases largely involving journalistic activities, public assemblies and demonstrations, and charges of membership in an organization.
Of the 50 defendants, 37 were students, nine were journalists and two were lawyers. Two others were listed under the “other” category in the monitoring form.
One of the week’s notable hearings was the first court appearance of lawyer Sezin Uçar, who had been held in pretrial detention for about six months on a charge of “membership in the MLKP.”
Uçar denied the charge. Mustafa Tezel, a witness whose statement was included in the indictment, told the court that he did not know Uçar and that the statement attributed to him during the investigation was not his. Tezel also said his statement had been taken under pressure.
The court ordered Uçar’s release subject to a ban on traveling abroad and adjourned the trial until Jan. 19, 2027.
An additional courtroom was opened to accommodate the large number of people attending the hearing. The full news report was published under the headline “Confessor says statement was taken under pressure, lawyer Sezin Uçar released”.
The third hearing was held in the trial of journalists Timur Soykan and Barış Pehlivan, who face charges of “publicly disseminating misleading information” over remarks they made on “Kayda Geçsin,” a program broadcast on Turkish television channel Halk TV.
The hearing began late because of the court’s workload. The court adjourned the case until Dec. 22 to allow outstanding procedural matters to be completed.
More details are available in our news report, “Soykan, on trial under ‘Censorship Law,’ says: ‘I am a journalist, and it is my job to write about these things’”.
The third hearing in the trial over the killing of journalist Hakan Tosun was held at Istanbul’s Bakırköy 17th High Criminal Court.
Detained defendants Abdurrahman Murat and Adnan Şahin attended the hearing via Turkey’s SEGBİS audiovisual court system. The prosecutor asked the court to convict both defendants of “intentional homicide.”
After defense lawyers requested additional time to prepare their defense statements, the court adjourned the hearing until 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 7.
Observers also noted that the courtroom was small and poorly ventilated, that statements made during the proceedings were difficult to hear and that extensive security measures were in place.
More details are available in our news report, “Prosecutor seeks intentional homicide convictions for two defendants in Hakan Tosun case”.
The 12th hearing in the trial of journalist Abdurrahman Gök in Diyarbakır, a predominantly Kurdish city in southeastern Turkey, was adjourned until Dec. 17 without any progress in the proceedings. The court decided to await the outcome of the case pending before the Court of Cassation.
More details are available in our news report, “Court awaits case pending before Court of Cassation: Abdurrahman Gök’s hearing adjourned again”.
The sixth hearing was held in Ankara in the trial of 37 students over their participation in a Pride March at Middle East Technical University (METU), one of Turkey’s leading public universities.
The students are charged with “participating unarmed in an unlawful assembly and demonstration and failing to disperse despite warnings.” The court ordered that defendants whose defense statements had not been heard at previous hearings be summoned and that outstanding procedural matters be completed, adjourning the hearing until Dec. 23.
More details are available in our news report, “METU Pride March trial adjourned until Dec. 23”.
The sixth hearing was held in Istanbul in the case opened against journalist Barış Pehlivan over his article titled “I am revealing the killers,” following a complaint by former Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor and Court of Cassation member Yüksel Kocaman. In the case, in which Pehlivan faces charges of “slander” and “insult,” the hearing started late due to the court’s workload, and the case was adjourned until Jan. 26, 2027.
The sixth hearing was also held in Pehlivan’s other case before the same court, in which he is being tried on a charge of “publicly insulting a public official because of his duty” following a complaint by Boğaziçi University Rector Mehmet Naci İnci; the hearing in this case was also adjourned until Dec. 8.
The second hearing in the trial of Cumhuriyet News Editor Can Uğur under the “Disinformation Law” over a news report concerning allegations that questions from the LGS exam were shared in a WhatsApp group before the exam had ended could not be held because the judicial panel was on medical leave, and the case was adjourned until Dec. 8.
The case opened against journalist Fırat Fıstık on a charge of “publicly disseminating misleading information” over an article published in Sözcü titled “Ministry buys goods from Israel,” which was the subject of a complaint by the Ministry of National Defense, was also adjourned until Nov. 12.
The fourth hearing in the trial of journalist Özüm Vurgun on a charge of “membership in an organization” at the Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court was adjourned until Jan. 26, 2027. The sixth hearing in the trial of journalist Nurcan Yalçın on a charge of “membership in an organization” at the Diyarbakır 9th High Criminal Court was also adjourned until Jan. 14, 2027. In both cases, the courts cited the need to complete outstanding matters before the proceedings could continue.
In journalist Alican Uludağ’s case, the case was adjourned until Dec. 22 for an opinion on the merits. Uludağ requested that it be determined whether his Sept. 23, 2025, social media post had been denied by the Directorate of Communications, that it be clarified which posts were the subject of the complainant’s lawyer’s complaint, and that his confiscated cellphone be returned.
No verdict was issued in any of the week’s 11 hearings. Most of the hearings were adjourned to later dates on the grounds that outstanding matters needed to be completed, defense statements needed to be prepared, an opinion on the merits needed to be prepared, or developments in another case needed to be awaited. The week’s only release order was issued in Sezin Uçar’s case, while in the Hakan Tosun case, the proceedings reached the stage at which the prosecutor sought the conviction of two defendants for intentional homicide.
Fair trial violations
Throughout the week, problems concerning the right to a fair trial were recorded at some hearings. In the Hakan Tosun case, the courtroom was reported to be small and poorly ventilated, the parties’ statements could not be heard adequately, and observers encountered obstacles when entering the courtroom; lawyers’ request for a larger courtroom was rejected.
In Sezin Uçar’s case, an additional courtroom was opened because the courtroom was inadequate, while it was recorded that a large number of law enforcement officers were present before the hearing and that the judge asked Uçar for her computer password during the hearing. In the same case, a witness said that his statement during the investigation stage had been taken under pressure.
These observations pointed to notable problems regarding fair trial guarantees, particularly in terms of the physical conditions of the hearings, observers’ access to the proceedings, the presence of law enforcement officers and practices during the defense process.
Other developments of the week
Following journalist Tuğba Tekerek’s arrest on Sept. 15, the MLSA Legal Unit filed an objection to her detention. The objection petition stated that Tekerek had no institutional, managerial or volunteer affiliation with KAOS GL, that the news report subject to the investigation was limited to journalistic activity, and that the accusations were not based on concrete technical surveillance data or other concrete evidence. Tekerek’s friends also celebrated the imprisoned journalist’s birthday on Sept. 23.
The Court of Cassation upheld the decision dismissing a non-pecuniary damages lawsuit filed against journalist Canan Kaya over statements she made about Demirören Media on Medya Koridoru. The high court stated that the article concerned a current issue of public interest and that the statements in question fell within the scope of freedom of the press and freedom of expression.
The Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, meanwhile, decided not to prosecute a criminal complaint filed against journalist Doğan Akın and Ceren Bala Teke, who was represented by the MLSA Legal Unit, over a news report published by T24. The prosecutor’s office concluded that the news report fell within the scope of freedom of the press and that the legal elements of the alleged offenses had not been established.
One of the final developments of the week was an investigation launched into executives of Yeni Yaşam newspaper. An investigation was opened into Managing Editor Ahmet Güneş and Editor-in-Chief Mehmet Ali Çelebi following a complaint by the Ministry of National Defense over a news report published in the newspaper under the headline “Is murder the job of those in uniform?” The two journalists were accused of “publicly disseminating misleading information.”
