Court to Investigate Hotels Journalists Stayed, TV Channels They Watched in 'FETÖ' Trial

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The first hearing of the case against journalists İbrahim Aydın, Barış İnce, Can Uğur and Bülent Yılmaz from the daily Birgün for reporting the tweets by the "Fuat Avni" account was held today (November 27) at the İstanbul 32nd Heavy Penal Court.

The account named "Fuat Avni" was active between 2013 and 2016 and targeted the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in its tweets. The account, which had hundreds of thousands of followers, claimed to give information from inside the party.

Several people were detained in an investigation against the account, which is linked by authorities to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), which is held responsible for the 2016 coup attempt.

The court has ruled in its interim decision that the associations and unions the journalists are members of and the hotels they stayed shall be investigated "whether they are linked to FETÖ." Whether the associations were closed upon statutory decrees and whether the journalists left those associations will also be looked at.

A letter will be sent to the İstanbul Security Directorate to find out whether the people who stayed in those hotels at the same time with the journalists are "linked to FETÖ."

Their subscription dates to digital platforms were also be investigated. The companies Turkcell, Superonline and D-Smart will be asked through a letter that whether the journalists have subscriptions to digital platforms.

It will also be investigated whether the names of the journalists were mentioned in the questionings and statements of suspected FETÖ members.

The next hearing will be held on March 5, 2020, at 11 a.m. (AS/VK)