Indictment against journalist Rawîn Stêrk five months after his arrest

Click to read the article in Turkish

İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has filed an indictment against Rûdaw reporter Rawîn Stêrk, who was arrested on March 6 while reporting on the situation of refugees on Turkey-Greece border in Edirne after Turkey announced that it opened the border to Europe.

In its indictment filed five months after his arrest, journalist Stêrk is now facing the charges of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" and membership of an armed terrorist organization."

The two pages of three-page indictment prepared by Prosecutor Edip Şahiner are allocated to the establishment of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), their history and how their structure and organization have changed over the years.

Edip Şahiner was also the prosecutor of Gezi Trial, where 16 defendants, including Osman Kavala, were put on trial for "attempting to overthrow the government of Republic of Turkey."

Demanding aggravated life sentence for Osman Kavala, Yiğit Aksakoğlu and Mücella Yapıcı and prison sentences of up to 20 years for six defendants, he appealed against the ruling after the defendants were acquitted.

'Rûdaw' not mentioned in the indictment

The indictment of the prosecutor has indicated that the Anti-Terror Bureau of the İstanbul Security Directorate took an action against Stêrk in 2013, accusing him of "establishing, leading and being a member of an armed terrorist organization." It has also noted that the Adana Anti-Terror Bureau also took action against him in 2008, charging him with "propagandizing for the PKK/KCK terrorist organization."

It has also alleged that before he was arrested, Stêrk was a reporter for Roj TV and DİHA, "which are broadcasting in the name of PKK," he was making news for these media outlets and got on Roj TV on the phone.

The indictment has not mentioned that he is a reporter for Rûdaw.

The news photos, archive photos and images in their cameras and digital materials that they had with they when they were detained were also considered criminal evidence for "propagandizing for the organization."

Prosecutor demands penalization

In the "legal evaluation and conclusion" part of the indictment, prosecutor Şahiner has noted that "...when the social media posts of the suspect, the findings acquired from the examination of digital materials that the suspect had on him and his activities in media outlets engaging in activities in the name of terrorist organization are evaluated as a whole, it has been understood that the suspect acted in a de facto and organic bond with the organization within the frame of PKK terrorist organization's ideologies, thereby committing the charged offense of membership of a terrorist organization as per the Article 314/2 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and the offense of propagandizing for a terrorist organization in a repetitive manner as per the Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law no. 3713..."

Accordingly, the indictment has demanded that journalist Rawîn Stêrk be penalized on the offenses charged.

His attorney requested his release

After the indictment was prepared, Özcan Kılıç, the attorney of Stêrk, has requested his release on the ground that, in contrast with the "organization membership" charge brought by the prosecutor's office, the court arrested him on charge of "propagandizing for the organization."

Noting that the allegation of "organization membership" mentioned in the indictment is not based on concrete evidence or the article of the law, Kılıç has underlined that the investigation dated 2013 was cited as the reason for his arrest and, as there is already a file of this investigation, arresting Stêrk based on this file means filing repeating lawsuits. (HA/SD)