Journalist Nadire Mater Stands Trial

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First hearing in the trial of bianet Project Consultant journalist Nadire Mater and Özgür Gündem daily's Editor-in-Chief İnan Kızılkaya who had participated in the "Editor-in-Chief on Watch" campaign launched in support of the Özgür Gündem daily was held today (November 7) before İstanbul 22nd Criminal Court.

Reporters without Borders (RSF) representatives Erol Önderoğlu, Lucie Marillon, Johann Bihr, Rubina Möhring and Anne Renzebrink as well as Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) İstanbul Deputy Garo Paylan and many journalists have observed the hearing.

Rejecting the deferment of the announcement of the verdict, Mater said,

"I am a journalist, a citizen. My editorship-in-chief for one day meets exactly with where I stand in life as a journalist and a citizen. Because I don't accept restrictions on people's right to information and limitations for citizens and journalists on making reports".

Attorney Meriç Eyüboğlu stated, "What is being discussed in these proceedings is the freedom of expression. That's why we will submit the 'Media Monitoring Reports' prepared and issued regularly by bianet since 2000, where my client works, to the court".

Attorney Fikret İlkiz on the other hand, recalled that the prosecutor of the investigation, Murat İnam has been tried on charges of crimes such as "being a member of the FETÖ/PDY (Fethullahist Terrorist Organization/Parallel State Organization)", political and military spying" and noted that it would not be right, that a prosecutor, who was subjected to an investigation himself, investigated other suspects. İlkiz said that his client's right to a fair trial was violated that way.

The next hearing will be on December 9, at 2.15 p.m.

The indictment prepared by prosecutor Murat İnam accuses Mater of "publishing articles that promote and legitimize violent acts of the terror organization called PKK/KCK (Kurdistan Workers' Party / Kurdistan Communities Union" and its sub-organizations".

Kızılkaya:All evidences mentioned are news reports

Re-explaining the difficulties he had gone through while being delivered from prison to court, Kızılkaya requested to be exempted from the hearings and said;

"All the evidences mentioned, are news reports and articles which are within the scope of the freedom of expression. Before July 7, all newspapers used to go to Qandil and make interviews. But following the change in the conjuncture, charges began to be pressed against our newspaper. All the news referred to in this trial serve the purpose to inform the society and the public opinion. I deny the charges".

Mater: Solidarity with Özgür Gündem is also an objection to the current situation

Drawing attention to the fact that 120 journalists were in prison at the moment, Mater recalled the access blocks to the internet and the social media as well as the closures in the media and noted;

"This picture also tells a course heading towards a media environment in which different voices are tried to be made unheard, invisible and inaccessible. Solidarity with Özgür Gündem is also an objection to this environment. Journalist-reader watches are like the protests and objections carried out by journalist and right organizations, and establishments of which Turkey is a part. As citizens, it is our right and duty to stand against this imposition.

"A news after all tells a story. The claim that this story is "impartial" is just a claim. Therefore, even though a news is what a journalist conveys from his/her own perspective in its most general sense, intervention or intervention efforts of different governmental circles including media owners to these conveys is a fact.", Mater noted and added that she would continue "advocating right based and peace journalism during the environments of war/conflict/post coup attempt period".

Mater has also said that the" that the only power to inspect editorial policies were journalists themselves, journalism organizations and readers and added "In the end, freedom of expression is freedom of expression. This freedom does not approve any intervention from anyone. Neither from the judiciary.

" Prior to taking testimonies, Prosecutor declared, they would launch investigation"

Attorney Eyüpoğlu said that before Mater's testimony was even taken, the prosecutor Murat İnam who drew up the bill of indictment, had declared that they would press the charges anyway and added "the indictment was already prepared before we even made our statements".

Stating that the "Media Monitoring Reports" which covered the violations of freedom of speech and were submitted to the court were not included in the case file, Attorney Eyüboğlu noted that the freedom of speech itself was the subject of discussion in the hearings.

Eyüpoğlu stated that they would submit a report on the situation of freedom of speech and its violations to the court and added they demanded time from the court for that purpose.

What had happened?

Since the recommencement of armed conflicts on July 24 2015, which coincided with the interruption of the resolution process, Özgür Gündem has faced countless investigations, charges and instances of censorships. Against the oppressive measures, the campaign "Editorship- in- Chief on Watch" campaign was launched on May 3 in solidarity with the newspaper. The "Editorship-in-Chief on Watch" campaign was launched on May 3 against the oppressive measures and in solidarity with the newspaper.

TİHV President Fincancı, RSF Turkey Representative and bianet rapporteur Önderoğlu and journalist author Nesin were arrested on the charge of "terror propaganda" for joining Özgür Gündem's Editor-in-Chief on Watch campaign. They were and later released pending trial.

İstanbul 8th Criminal Court of Peace shut down Özgür Gündem newspaper on August 16. The verdict decision said that the newspaper would be "temporarily shut down" but did not mention how long it would remain closed.

Following the court's decision, police raided the newspaper's headquarters. 22 people were taken into custody.

Police have also raided the apartment of Filiz Koçali and Eren Keskin, as well as Sinan Zarakolu, who was registered at the same address. Sinan Zarakolu is the son of publisher, columnist and journalist Ragıp Zarakolu, who was registered at the same address.

On August 19, Özgür Gündem Publishing Consultant Board member Aslı Erdoğan was arrested.

On August 22, Özgür Gündem's Editor-in-Chief Zana Kaya and Chief Editor İnan Kızılkaya were arrested on the charge of "being a member of an [illegal] organization.

On August 31, Necmiye Alpay, Özgür Gündem's Publishing Consultant Board member, linguist and writer, was also arrested on the charges of "being a member of an armed terrorist organization" and "subverting the unity and integrity of the state".

On September 1, nine people from the watch group were asked by the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to appear before the Press Bar within 15 days.

The nine were journalist and bianet Project Advisor Nadire Mater, journalists Tuğrul Eryılmaz, Hasan Cemal, Hasan Hüseyin Tahmaz and Dicle Anter, Özgür Radio's General Coordinator Derya Okatan, Executive Editor of the closed haberdar.com website, writer Murat Uyurkulak, and HDP Central Executive Committee member Çilem Küçükkeleş. News reports published on about the watch campaign were provided as justification for the investigations against them.

On October 29, 10 newspapers including Özgür Gündem daily, two news agencies and three magazines were closed in the Statutory Decree No. 675. (ÇT/DG)