İstanbul - First hearing of the trial where Yeni Yaşam newspaper’s Managing Editor Osman Akın faces “successively making terrorist propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization” charges was held at İstanbul 28th High Criminal Court. Akın rejected the charges and was granted extra time to prepare his defense statement in response to the prosecutor’s claims. The trial is adjourned until October 22nd.
The indictment lists four news stories published in Yeni Yaşam newspaper on February 15th, 2019 as evidence for terrorist propaganda: a news story titled “100 days in resistance,” a news story on Democratic Society Congress (DTK) co-president and People's Democratic Party (HDP) Hakkari MP Leyla Güven’s hunger strike, a news story titled “They’re walking for sunnier days,” and finally a news story titled “20th year of solitary confinement in İmralı.”
Akın denied the accusations listed in the indictment and insisted that he has not committed a crime and demanded his acquittal. Akın’s lawyer Özcan Kılıç said, “We will present our defense regarding the concerned news stories later. We demand additional time at this stage in the trial.”
The prosecutor demanded Akın to be punished for terrorist propaganda in line with the indictment.
The court decided to grant Akın additional time to prepare his defense statement in response to the prosecutor’s accusations and adjourned the trial until October 22nd, 2019.
