7 Journalists Acquitted of Targeting a Senior Army Officer
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Charged with "targeting a public officer who served in counter-terrorism" for reporting and sharing news on Deputy General Commander of Gendarmerie Musa Çitil, seven journalists had their final hearing at the Diyarbakır 9th Heavy Penal Court today (December 18).
Announcing its ruling, the court board has ruled that the following journalists shall be acquitted of the offense charged: News Director of Dicle News Agency (DİHA) closed by a Statutory Decree Ömer Çelik; DİHA reporters Çağdaş Kaplan, Hamza Gündüz and Selman Çiçek; journalist A. Vahap Taş; Managing Editor of closed daily Özgür Gündem İnan Kızılkaya and Grant Holder of the newspaper Kemal Sancılı. Put on trial along with the journalists, social media user S.G. has also been acquitted.
Çitil previously filed a lawsuit against eight people, including seven journalists, and alleged that they targeted him by sharing the news reported on the operation that he led in Sur, Diyarbakır when he was the Diyarbakır Gendarmerie Regional Commander. The news report in question was entitled "The siege is called 'Flag 12', it is led by Musa Çitil." The lawsuit filed upon the complaint of Çitil has ended in acquittal of all defendants.
Who is Musa Çitil?A lawsuit was filed against former Derik Gendarmerie Regional Commander Brigadier General Musa Çitil for unidentified murders of 13 villagers in Derik district of Mardin province between 1993 and 1994. Musa Çitil was demanded life imprisonment aggravated for 13 times and the indictment indicated that Çitil referred to murdered villagers as "terrorists" in his proceedings. On February 17, 2012, two mass graves were dug in Derik district and a burnt human skull and some bones were found. According to Forensic Medicine Institution, the bones belonged to Mehmet Emin Aslan (19), one of enforced disappeared villagers. Çitil was acquitted of the offense charged on May 21, 2014. Families of the murdered villagers appealed to the Court of Cassation. The supreme court has upheld his acquittal. Afterwards, he was appointed as the Diyarbakır Gendarmerie Regional Commander and became a Major General. He led the operation in Sur, Diyarbakır at that time. Promoted to the Deputy General Commandership of Gendarmerie by a Ministry of Interior decree dated July 21, 2017, Çitil became a Lieutenant General one year later. |
(AS/SD)