Journalist Rojhat Doğru sentenced to life in prison

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Facing four different charges for joining the 2014 Kobanî protests where he was reporting news, news camera operator Rojhat Doğru has been given a life sentence and 12 years, 1 month in prison. The pronouncement of 1 year, 3 months has been deferred. The court has also ruled that Doğru shall be arrested and issued an arrest warrant against the journalist.

Charged with "disrupting the unity of the state and integrity of the country", "membership of a terrorist organization", "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" and "attempted deliberate killing", the journalist's final hearing was held at the Diyarbakır 8th High Criminal Court.

While Rojhat Doğru did not attend his 13th and final hearing yesterday (January 6), his lawyer Resul Temur defended his client before the judge. The prosecutor's office reiterated its previous opinion as to the accusations where he demanded penalization of the journalist. The office requested aggravated life imprisonment and up to 35 years in prison for Doğru.

Taking the floor as to the accusations, lawyer Resul Temur noted that the accusations in question were made by merging three files.

Underlining that the opinion as to the accusations was in a nature of restricting the defense, Temur stated that the prosecutor ignored the evidence and witness statements collected during the prosecution.

'It doesn't change the fact that he is a journalist'

Further in his statement, lawyer Resul Temur said that the indictment was lodged by copy-paste, adding that the statement of the anonymous witness did not correspond with the content of the case file.

Temur recalled that his client was working as a news camera operator during the Kobanî protests in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır on October 6-8, 2014. The lawyer also referred to the expert report which indicated that Rojhat Doğru was filming the conflicts on the street, wounded in the ongoing shooting and did not have any sharp weapon in his hand. Lawyer Temur briefly said:

"It is against the natural flow of life for Rojhat Doğru to hold the camera in one hand and to carry out an armed attack with a weapon in the other. The videos captured by the client do not confirm the accounts of the plaintiff and show that there was an attack on the other side, too.

"After the client was awarded over these videos, there came accusations. This is an accusation stemming from hostility. Our client is a journalist. That he was not given a press card does not change this fact."

Handing down the ruling after the recess, the court has ruled by a majority of votes that Doğru shall be sentenced to life imprisonment for "disrupting the unity of the state and integrity of the country", to 10 years, 10 months in prison for "attempted deliberate killing" and to 1 year, 3 months in prison for "propagandizing for a terrorist organization". The announcement of his prison term for "terror propaganda" has been deferred.

The court board has also ruled that Doğru shall be arrested and issued an arrest warrant against the journalist.

A member of the court board has expressed a dissenting opinion to the court ruling, saying that when it is considered together with the scope of the entire file, Doğru's acts and activities in the file constituted the crime of "being a member of an armed terrorist organization".

According to the judge, Doğru is not to be found guilty of "disrupting the unity of the state and integrity of the country" and "attempted deliberate killing" and he should have been acquitted of these crimes.

Journalist Rojhat Doğru's lawyer Resul Temur has announced that he will take the ruling of the local court to the appeals court on the grounds that it is against the law as well as the due procedure of law.

What happened?

Over the videos that he captured during the Kobanî protests in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern and eastern provinces, Rojhat Doğru was awarded the top prize in the video news category of the "Most Successful Journalists" competition held by Southeastern Journalists Association (GGC) in 2015 with his news story "October 6-7 Incidents-Diyarbakır."

After he received the award, news camera operator Doğru was targeted by the websites close to the Free Cause Party (HÜDAPAR), a pro-Kurdish and Sunni Islamist political party, and on social media.

It was alleged that Doğru attended the protests where he reported news as a protestor and that he wounded a person with a gun.

An investigation was launched into the related allegations. In 2017, Doğru started standing trial on charges of "disrupting the unity of the state and integrity of the country" and "attempted deliberate killing".

As part of another investigation launched in Diyarbakır on charges of "membership of a terrorist organization" and "propagandizing for a terrorist organization", he was detained in İstanbul on December 3, 2018.

A day later, he was arrested by the Diyarbakır 5th Criminal Judgeship of Peace via the Audio and Visual Information System (SEGBİS). He was accused of interviewing the members of the organization at a picnic in Ranya while working for the Iraq-based Galî Kurdistan TV.

He was indicted on December 10 after he was arrested. Based on preliminary proceedings, the indictment was merged with the case where he was standing trial at the Diyarbakır 8th High Criminal Court.

The Diyarbakır 8th High Criminal Court released Doğru at the hearing on February 26, 2019. It also imposed an international travel ban and judicial control measures on the journalist. (HA/SD)