Journalists appear before court over reports on Berkin Elvan's death during Gezi protests

Canan Coşkun and Can Uğur

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The first hearing of the case against journalists Canan Coşkun, Ali Açar and Can Uğur over news reports about the death of Berkin Elvan (14) during the 2013 Gezi Park protest was held today (September 17).

The journalists are charged with "targeting a public official who took part in the fight against terrorism."

While Coşkun and Uğur were present at the courtroom with their attorneys, Açar did not attend the hearing, stating an excuse, MLSA and P24 reported.

Presenting his defense statement, Uğur said, "I am accused of disclosing the identity of the police officer. But when you look at the news article, identity information is not disclosed. A photograph was not used either. In accordance with the universal principles of journalism, I reported an event that interests the public. It is a report made from attorneys' opinions. No name was used, targeted. The news article on the website belongs to me. I didn't make the report in the print copy. We only wrote the initial letters of the police officer's name and surname."

Coşkun said, "When we made the report, the identity of the police officer who shot Berkin elvan had not been disclosed for three years. The report we made about the topic is the continuation of the follow-up. Before a confidentiality order was imposed, I had obtained the full prosecutor's office file. In the photograph published in the news report, the person's face was blurred and his name was not written. As a journalist, I followed the news for the public interest. I don't accept the charge of 'targeting'."

The court adjourned the case to November 10 at 11:45 for the completion of Ali Açar's defense statement.

What happened?

On June 16, 2013, Berkin Elvan was hospitalized due to grave head injuries after the police intervention in the district of Okmeydanı in İstanbul. When he was admitted to the Okmeydanı Research Hospital, his heart had reportedly stopped already.

Suffering from a brain hemorrhage, Elvan went through at least five surgeries. On January 5, 2014, Elvan turned 15 in his comatose. He died on March 11, 269 days after being shot.

While the prosecutor investigating the incident was changed for six times, the investigation was completed on December 7, 2016. Prepared by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the indictment demanded that police officer F.D., who was referred to as the only defendant, be penalized on charge of "killing with eventual intent."

The 11-page indictment sent to the İstanbul 17th Heavy Penal Court has been accepted. A verdict of non-prosecution has been given for 42 police officers, who previously made their depositions as part of the investigation into the death of Elvan.

Speaking to bianet, Oya Aslan, one of the attorneys for the Elvan family, stated that a lawsuit was filed only against a single police officer who was on the scene of incident and added that since the lawsuit was filed for "killing with eventual intent", rather than for "wilful murder", it has reduced the foreseen prison sentence to 20 years.

The case is still continuing. Its next hearing will be held on May 8, 2019.

(HA/VK)