Journalism and freedom of expression trials: Week of March 14

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

March 15th, 2022 Tuesday

• The second hearing of the trial where journalist and author Zekine Türkeri whom MLSA represent in court, faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court, at 10:30. The indictment presents 18 tweets Türkeri had shared in 2019 and which were discovered during an “open intelligence investigation” conducted by the police as evidence against the journalist.

March 16th, 2022 Wednesday

• The 21st hearing of the trial where since-shuttered Özgür Gündem newspaper’s managing editor Reyhan Çapan faces “making terrorist propaganda”, “publishing or spreading the publications and the announcements of terrorist organizations” and “spreading terrorist propaganda via the press” charges will be held at İstanbul 2nd High Criminal Court, at 09:40. 18 separate indictments have been prepared against Çapan and all of them were merged and accepted by İstanbul 2nd High Criminal Court. The indictments present news articles published in Özgür Gündem between 2012-2015 as evidence against Çapan. The prosecution requests imprisonment for Çapan for up to 15 years and six months and judicial fine for up to five thousand days.
• The 11th hearing of the trial where HDP Diyarbakır Branch’s Press Consultant Vedat Dağ faces “membership in a terrorist organization” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charges will be held at Diyarbakır 11th High Criminal Court, at 10:50. The indictment presents Dağ’s attendance to HDP events as a press member, the posts he shared about these events on his social media account and secret witness testimonies as evidence against Dağ. Dağ is accused of conducting media operations for the KCK Press Committee. At the last hearing held on December 15th, 2021, the prosecutor presented his opinion as to the accusations and requested that Dağ be sentenced for “membership” and “threat” charges.

March 17th, 2022 Thursday

• The second hearing of the trial where seven women's rights defender, including the Co-mayor of Van Tuşba Municipality Ayşe Minaz, the Co-mayor of Muradiye municipality Leyla Balkan and the Peoples’ Democratic Party’s Co-chair for İpekyolu district Canan Uzunay face “defying the Law no. 2911 on Assemblies and Demonstrations” charge will be held in the Van 5th Criminal Court of First Instance. The indictment presents a march which was planned for protesting against the decision to withdraw from the İstanbul Convention and the social media posts calling for the march under #İstanbulSözleşmesineSahipÇıkıyoruz [#WeAreProtectingtheIstanbulConvention] as evidence against the rights defenders.
• The second hearing of the trial where author and poet Gökhan Yavuzel faces “publicly provoking the public to hatred and hostility” charges will be held in the Ankara 7th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10:05. The indictment presents a social media post Yavuzel had shared on his social media and which was picked up during a “cyber patrol” by the police as evidence against Yavuzel.
• The third hearing of the trial where BirGün daily’s Politics Editor Mehmet Emin Kurnaz faces “insulting the president” and “insulting a public official” charges will be held in the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10:10. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his governing partner Devlet Bahçeli are listed as “victims” in the indictment. The indictment presents the caption “Çetelerin İktidarı [the Government of the Gangs]” which was placed in a collage that is made up of the pictures of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Devlet Bahçeli, Alaattin Çakıcı and Sedat Peker. The prosecutor who included the definition of the word “çete [gang]” in the indictment, claims that Devlet Bahçeli is a public official.
• The fifth hearing of the trial where the exiled artist Ferhat Tunç faces “insulting a public official” charges will be held at Büyükçekmece 16th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10:25. The indictment presents Tunç’s reply tweet to then prime minister Binali Yıldırım as evidence against the artist.
• The first hearing of the trial where former reporter of the since-shuttered Azadiya Welat Çetin Kurşun faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in Mardin 2nd High Criminal Court, at 10:30. After the 3rd Penal Chamber of the Gaziantep Regional Court of Appeals reversed the judgment of the local court which had sentenced Kurşun to three years in prison for “making propaganda for a terrorist organization in a consecutive manner” and sent it back to the local court, the Mardin 2nd High Criminal Court ruled to file a criminal complaint against Kurşun in the preliminary proceedings for “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.” The indictment, which was prepared after the criminal investigation presents the news articles published on a website called Ciwannews. Different publications on the same website are cited as evidence in the indictment of another case heard by the Mardin 2nd High Criminal Court in which Kurşun stands trial on “membership in a terrorist organization” charge.
• The third hearing of the trial where academic Hifzullah Kutum faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Elazığ 2nd High Criminal Court, at 11:40. The indictment presents 15 tweets and retweets which include the words “Kürt [Kurd]” and “Kürdistan” as evidence against the academic. The indictment dated November 8, 2021 was prepared five days after Kutum was reported to the police and an investigation was launched. Kutum was taken into custody on November 5th and was arrested on November 6th. After spending four days in detention, Kutum was released on November 10th.