Sixteen journalists imprisoned in Diyarbakır waiting for indictment for five months

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"The prosecutor of the investigation has changed. The police did not send the digital transcripts. The prosecutor did not prepare an indictment. Our friends spent five months in prison without even knowing what they were accused of," says Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) Co-Chair Dicle Müftüoğlu about the experiences of 16 journalists imprisoned in Diyarbakır.

Tomorrow (November 16) marks the fifth month of the arrest of 16 journalists. The experiences of the journalists, who are in prison for 153 days, are precise as Müftüoğlu described. Five months with no indictment and no charges.

According to Müftüoğlu, what happened when the journalists were taken into custody on June 8 and arrested on June 16 differs from the news and statements broadcast by the media close to the government.

"At that time, the created perception the arrests were huge and sensational," says Müftüoğlu.

He finds it strange that the government, which carried out such a big operation against journalists, has not brought a single accusation against them while five months have passed.

"When our lawyers meet with the prosecutor, the prosecutor does not even say anything clear about when the indictment will be arranged."

"The indictment is deliberately kept on hold"

"Our friends were taken because of their journalistic activities, and the operation was carried out to prevent their work. Otherwise, the procedure for which so much preparation has been made, and despite the statements criminalizing journalists, it is impossible not to prepare an indictment in five months. 

"Diyarbakır, compared to Istanbul, is a city with a lower judicial workload. To make them wait is done deliberately. The prosecutor says that the investigation is continuing and that they are waiting for the transcript of the digital materials, which is why the indictment is not yet ready.

"Moreover, the prosecutor who started the investigation was brought from Bismil. After the arrests, the prosecutor was assigned to Izmir. Then another prosecutor was assigned to the case.

"Imagine that the prosecutor says that five months have passed, and the prosecutor still has not received the digital transcripts. In other words, the digital transcripts have not yet been sent to the prosecutor's office by the police.

"It is the police who do the search and seize digital documents. Perhaps the police are deliberately extending the time by not touching these devices. Our friends are being intentionally punished."
Protests in front of the courthouse

Müftüoğlu also said that tomorrow (November 16), they will hold an action against their imprisoned colleagues in front of the Diyarbakır Courthouse at 1 p.m.

"We will make a statement demanding the end of this torture of arrest against our friends." "We will call for either our friends to be released or the prosecutor to prepare the indictment," "We want this process to be ended as soon as possible."

What happened?

On June 8, the police raided several homes and offices of news outlets in the predominantly Kurdish populated province of Diyarbakır. Twenty-two people, including 20 journalists, were detained.

After eight days in detention, a judgeship ruled for the arrest of 16 journalists on "terrorist propaganda" charges, citing their news reports and social media posts as evidence.

During their interrogation, the questions they were asked included what they meant by "Kurdish question" and whether they had received instructions, an attorney of the journalists had told bianet.

The arrests triggered a backlash from journalists and international organizations. (HA/WM/VK)