Court of Cassation announces verdicts on cases related to pro-Kurdish Özgür Gündem newspaper

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The Court of Cassation has announced its decisions on two separate cases related to the pro-Kurdish Özgür Gündem newspaper, which was shut down by a statutory decree in 2016.

One of the cases involved five journalists who were convicted of "terrorist propaganda" for participating in a solidarity campaign with the newspaper in 2016. The Court of Cassation confirmed the one-year prison sentences for Ayşe Düzkan and Ragıp Duran, but overturned the same sentence for Mehmet Ali Çelebi, ruling that he should be acquitted.

The one-year sentence given to Hüseyin Bektaş was overturned by the Court of Cassation due to the restriction of his defense rights, as he was not given a chance to make his final statement during the trial.

Additionally, the high court decided to overturn the 3 years and 9 months sentence given to Hüseyin Aykol, as the lower court failed to determine whether there were any similar allegations or investigations against the journalist.

In 2016, 53 human rights advocates and journalists took turns serving as the newspaper's editor-in-chief for one day to show solidarity.

Özgür Gündem newspaper was intermittently published from the 1990s until 2016. During the '90s, more than 20 of the newspaper's employees were extrajudicially killed in the conflict-ridden regions with a significant Kurdish population.

Trial of executives and writers

In another case related to Özgür Gündem, where executives and writers were accused of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" and "openly inciting crime," the court has also announced its verdict.

In the trial that concluded in May 2019, seven individuals were sentenced to prison, eight were acquitted, seven cases were separated, and one case was dropped due to statute of limitations.

The Court of Cassation confirmed the 1 year and 3 months sentence for Reyhan Hacıoğlu, and the 1 year and 6 months sentences for Hüseyin Güçlü and Tahir Temel.

On the other hand, the high court overturned the 1 year and 3 months sentence for Ayşe Batumlu Kaya, the 2 years and 1 month sentence for Hüseyin Aykol, and the 3 years and 9 months sentences for Eren Keskin and Reyhan Çapan. Court of Cassation's reason for overturning was that despite similar allegations being made against the journalists in other courts, the case was not consolidated or reviewed before the decision was made in İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court.

Özgür Gündem Trials

The Editors-in-Chief on Watch campaign of Özgür Gündem daily began on May 3, 2016 and ended on August 7, 2016. The newspaper was closed by the Statutory Decree No. 675 issued under the State of Emergency.

Investigations were filed against 49 of 56 editors-in-chief on watch, 11 of them have ended in verdicts of non-prosecution and 38 files have turned into lawsuits.

Relying on the Articles 7(2) and 6(2) of the Anti-Terror Law No. 3713, the 38 Editors-in-Chief on Watch stood trial on the charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" and for "publishing and spreading statements of terrorist organizations.

Cases in which court ruled no prosecution

İhsan Eliaçık, Sebahat Tuncel, Ahmet Abakay, Eşber Yağmurdereli, Hasip Kaplan, Işın Eliçin, Kemal Can, Mustafa Sönmez, Melda Onur, Uğur Karadaş, Nurcan Baysal.

1 of 38 cases dropped

Lawsuits were filed against 38 people, one of them has dropped. That is, as the charges brought against Deniz Türkali violated statutory limitations, they have been dropped.

188 months, 15 days in prison and 67 thousand TRY fine

In the trial of Editors-in-Chief on Watch, the court has announced its ruling on 34 people, namely: Şanar Yurdatapan, İbrahim Bodur, Cengiz Baysoy, Hüseyin Tahmaz, Çilem Küçükkeleş, Nadire Mater, Yıldırım Türker, Hasan Cemal, Faruk Balıkçı, Dicle Anter, Derya Okatan, Kumru Başer, Ayşe Batumlu, Jülide Kural, Murat Uyurkulak, Murat Çelikkan, Beyza Üstün, Nevin Erdemir, Hakkı Boltan, Hasan Hayri Şanlı, Tuğrul Eryılmaz, Hüseyin Aykol, Ayşe Düzkan, Ragıp Duran, Öncü Akgül, İhsan Çaralan, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Celal Başlangıç, Celalettin Can, Fehim Işık and Faruk Eren.

7 acquittals

The court has given a ruling of acquittal for the following 7 people: Erol Önderoğlu, Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Ahmet Nesin, Hasan Hayri Şanlı, Nevin Erdemir, Hüseyin Tahmaz and Hakkı Boltan.

27 people sentenced to 293 months, 15 days in total

27 people have been sentenced to 67 thousand TRY and 293 months and 15 days.

Murat Çelikkan, whose prison term was not deferred, entered Kırklareli Prison on August 14, 2017, was transferred to open prison on October 14, 2017 and released on October 21, 2017.
Ayşe Düzkan, the editor-in-chief on watch whose prison term was not deferred, was imprisoned on January 29, 2019 as the Court of Appeal upheld her prison sentence. Taken to Bakırköy Women's Prison, Düzkan was released on June 12.
Özgür Gündem Editor-in-Chief Hüseyin Aykol was arrested on July 12, 2019 as he was convicted and sentenced to 3 years, 9 months in prison. Aykol was released on October 25, 2019.
Editors-in-Chief on Watch Erol Önderoğlu, Ahmet Nesin and Şebnem Korur Fincancı were arrested on June 20, 2016. They were released 10 days later.

Cases of 3 people still continue

Can Dündar, Said Sefa and Veysi Alta

Kızılkaya's cases

Özgür Gündem Managing Editor İnan Kızılkaya is defendant in all 38 cases. His case was separated from the others in the trials together with the other Editors-in-Chief on Watch. İstanbul 23rd Heavy Criminal Court is combining Kızılkaya's case with the main trial.

Lawsuits against 9 columnists

Lawsuits were filed against the columnists of the newspaper Ömer Ağın, İmam Canpolat, İlham Bakır, Mehmet Şirin Taşdemir, Veysel Kemer, Yüksel Oğuz, Dilşah Kocakaya, Mehmet Ali Çelebi and Hüseyin Bektaş.

Dilşah Kocakaya, İmam Canpolat and İlham Bakır have been sentenced to 15 months in prison each. While the prison term of Bakır has been deferred, those of Canpolat and Kocakaya have not been. Mehmet Ali Çelebi and Hüseyin Bektaş have been each sentenced to 1 year, 6 months in prison. The prison sentences have not been deferred.

Özgür Gündem main trial

In the main trial, Özgür Gündem Consultant Board members Necmiye Alpay, Aslı Erdoğan, Ragıp Zarakolu, Filiz Koçali, Eren Keskin, Editors-in-Chief Zana Kaya, İnan Kızılkaya, Kemal Sancılı and Bilge Oykut are standing trial.

In the hearing of the main trial held on April 10, 2019, the board of the İstanbul 23rd Heavy Penal Court ruled that Kemal Sancılı, the Grant Holder of the newspaper, should be released as he was convicted and sentenced to prison in another trial heard by the İstanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court. Sancılı is still behind bars.

Moreover, while Eren Keskin is standing trial in 47 cases as the former permanent Editor-in Chief of Özgür Gündem, Hüseyin Aykol is standing trial in 38 cases as the former permanent Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper.

(HA/VK)