Prosecutor Demands Journalist Hasan Cemal be Penalized for ‘Terror Propaganda’

Announcing his opinion as to the accusations in the lawsuit filed against journalist Hasan Cemal due to an article that he wrote three years ago, the prosecutor has demanded that Cemal be penalized for “propagandizing for a terrorist organization.”

Tansu Pişkin

Prosecutor Demands Journalist Hasan Cemal be Penalized for ‘Terror Propaganda’

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The second hearing of the lawsuit, which was filed against journalist Hasan Cemal on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" due to his article entitled "From Silvan: They have so accustomed us to deaths" published on T24 news website on December 4, 2015, was held in the İstanbul 36th Heavy Penal Court today (April 16).

Announcing his opinion as to the accusations, the prosecutor of the court demanded that Cemal be penalized on the offense charged, namely "propagandizing for a terrorist organization."

The court has given time to the defendant and his attorney Fikret İlkiz for the preparation of their defense as to the accusations. The next hearing of the case will be held on May 7, 2019.

Case files not combined

The second hearing of the case held today was attended by Hasan Cemal and his attorney Fikret İlkiz as well as several other journalists.

The documents showing that Gülsuma Güçer, Mehmet Ali Dünser and Silvan Co-Mayor of the time Zuhal Tekiner, whose names are mentioned in Cemal's article, were acquitted of the charges pressed against them by the Diyarbakır 4th Heavy Penal Court were added to the file of Cemal.

On the ground that Cemal was previously penalized on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" by the İstanbul 22nd Heavy Penal Court, the court ruled that two case files of Cemal shall not be combined since it is not legally possible.

Prosecutor announces his opinion as to accusations

Stating that there was no request for the extension of the prosecution, the prosecutor announced his opinion as to the accusations.

The prosecutor demanded that Journalist Hasan Cemal be penalized on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK).

In response, attorney Fikret İlkiz stated that the opinion as to the accusations is the repetition of the interlocutory judgement given by the court and added, "We want to present our response in written form. We request time."

Granting the requested time to the defendant and his attorney, the court ruled that the next hearing shall be held on May 7, 2019.

What happened?

In 2015, Hasan Cemal went to the district of Silvan in Diyarbakır, met and talked to three people and wrote an article afterwards. While the three people, whom Cemal interviewed three years ago, have been acquitted in the lawsuits filed against them, the first hearing of the lawsuit, which was filed against journalist Hasan Cemal on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" due to his article entitled "From Silvan: They have so accustomed us to deaths" published on T24 news website on December 4, 2015, was held at the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan on January 3, 2019.

In this first hearing, attorney Fikret İlkiz emphasized that Güçer, Tekiner and Dünser, whose names are mentioned in the article of Cemal, were acquitted of the charges which were pressed against them by the Diyarbakır 4th Heavy Penal Court and requested that his client be also acquitted. The court rejected the request for acquittal.

Appearing before the judge, Hasan Cemal rejected the charge brought against him with following remarks: "I have written four books and thousands of articles and essays on Kurdish question. This article was one of them. It was an article defending peace and condemning sorrows and deaths. The entire article is within the scope of journalistic activity and freedom of expression. Neither journalism nor freedom of expression is a crime. I have never propagandized for a terrorist organization. I request my acquittal since this article is within limits of freedom of expression."

About Hasan Cemal

Journalist, writer.

He graduated from the Faculty of Political Science at Ankara University. He started his career in journalism in the weekly Devrim (Revolution) magazine in Ankara in 1969.

He worked for the Yeni Ortam (New Environment) magazine, Anka Agency and Günaydın, Cumhuriyet and Milliyet newspapers.

He worked as Ankara representative and editor-in-chief for Cumhuriyet newspaper. Having worked for Milliyet newspaper since 1998, he resigned from the newspaper after his article criticizing the then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was not published.

He is still writing for the T24 news website. He is the Founding Chair of the Independent Journalism Platform P24. He has published 12 books.

(TP/SD)

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bianet muhabiri. İstanbul Üniversitesi Siyaset Bilimi ve Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü mezunu. Şubat-Mart 2017 dönemi bianet stajyeriydi. Mayıs 2017'den beri bianet'te.