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Journalist Oktay Candemir is charged with "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" by a new indictment issued by the prosecutor's office.
With the slogans chanted in the videos from 16 years ago cited as criminal evidence, the journalist will appear before the judge as the Van 5th Heavy Penal Court has accepted the indictment.
As reported by Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the videos and photographs in his digital materials seized in a house raid on April 4, 2019 and some of his social media posts have been brought as criminal evidence against journalist Oktay Candemir in the 4-page indictment.
The indictment has indicated that there were flags of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the framed picture of a person considered to be "an organization member" in four Facebook messages shared on Candemir's account between the years of 2014 and 2015.
It has also referred to the images captured by Candemir while he was covering the meetings and demonstrations of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in Ağrı, Kars and Iğdır provinces in 2005-2019 as a journalist.
Among the criminal evidence cited in the indictment are also the slogans chanted in the videos, which the indictment has referred to as, "Information as to who captured them could not be obtained".
Prosecutor demands his penalization
Accordingly, referring to the examination of his social media posts and account, the indictment of the prosecutor has alleged that journalist Oktay Candemir "propagandized for a terrorist organization."
The indictment has also referred to the deposition of Candemir, who said that the related posts were previously acquitted. "While the suspect stated that the posts in question were put on trial by the Van 5th Heavy Penal Court, it has been detected that the posts put on trial by the Van 5th Heavy Penal Court and the ones in our file are not the same," the prosecutor has said.
Candemir will have his first hearing on June 15, 2021. (HA/SD)
