"Atılım" Newspaper Reporters Released after 9 Months

Atılım newspaper reporters Tuncay Mat and Çağdaş Küçükbattal were released pending trial after nine months in detention. Both journalists stand trial for allegedly participating in the demolition of a base station in the Gazi district on the European side of Istanbul.

In the second hearing on 29 May, the Istanbul 11^th High Criminal Court decided for the journalists' release after Mat and Küçükbattal had claimed that they followed the incident as journalists and that their prosecution was a breach of law. A total of eleven defendants are on trial, five of them are detained. The case was postponed to 24 September.

Police did not send video records

The hearing held in the Beşiktaş court house (Istanbul) was attended by one un-detained and five detained defendants and their lawyers. The defendant's lawyers claimed that Mat and Küçükbattal were at the scene to cover the incident as journalists and that this could be clearly seen from the pictures and video records. The lawyers argued that the case file did not bear any concrete evidence and thus requested their clients' release.

At the same time, the lawyers emphasized the negative effects of the base station on the people's health. They stated that it was not a crime to be against the base station and that their clients voiced democratic criticism.

The court had previously requested the Istanbul police to send video records made during the incident. However, the footage was not sent before the hearing.

The court heard a witness suggested by the lawyers of detained defendant Volkan Gedik. The court decided for Mat's and Küçükbattal's release pending trial and decreed to keep the other three defendants in detention. (EÖ/TK/VK)