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Five employees of the Özgürlükçü Demokrasi have been given a total of 15 years prison term by the 23rd Heavy Penal Court in the final hearing of the case.
Three arrested defendants, grant holder İhsan Yaşar and editors Mehmet Ali Çelebi and Reyhan Hacıoğlu were present at the fifth hearing of the case at the İstanbul Courthouse.
Çelebi said in his statement that he does not accept the alleged offenses and that the bill of indictment is based on "fiction."
"All of the allegations are acts of journalism. All the issues of the newspaper are examined by the prosecutor's office. Can judiciary and law be run arbitrarily? It can't.
"Journalism is held as a hostage, journalism is imprisoned. Imprisoning journalism means imprisoning democracy."
Defendant Hicran Urun said in her statement that what is being tried in the case is journalism, noting that the bill of indictment almost wholly consists of news reports.
"The government views everyone who is not with it as terrorists and the judiciary contributes to this. There is not a single concrete evidence for membership of a terrorist organization. Only journalism is being tried here."
Hacıoğlu said that she has been trying to prove for 15 months that she is a journalist. The reason for their imprisonment is the news reports they wrote, she added.
After the statements, the prosecutor requested their penalization, repeating his opinion as to the accusations.
The court ruled for the acquittal of Pınar Tarlak, Ramazan Sola and Mizgin Pendik. It sentenced Hicran Urun, Reyhan Hacıoğlu and İhsan Yasul to 3 years, 1 month and 15 days in prison for "aiding a terrorist organization."
Çelebi was given a jail term of 3 years and 9 months for the same offense. Yaşar was sentenced to 10 months in prison for possessing an unlicensed weapon.
Yasul was also sentenced to 1 year, 6 months and 22 days in prison for "propagandizing for a terrorist organization."
The court ruled for the release of Hacıoğlu, Çelebi and Yaşar, considering the time they stayed behind bars.
What happened?On March 28, police raided the central office of Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspaper in the district of Beyoğlu in İstanbul and the Gün Printing House, where the issues of the newspaper were printed. During the raids on March 28 and the house raids on the following days, 33 people from the Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspaper and Gün Printing House were taken into custody, including the Grant Holder of Özgürlükçü Demokrasi İhsan Yaşar, its Managing Editor İshak Yasul and the owner of Gün Printing House Kasım Zengin. On April 5, eight people were arrested on the charge of "aiding an illegal organization knowingly and willfully as non-members." 12 other people, including the owner of Gün Printing House Kasım Zengin were also arrested on charges of "membership of an illegal organization" and "propagandizing for a terrorist organization." After Özgür Gündem newspaper was closed on August 16, 2016, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi started to be published on August 23, 2016. |
(HA/VK)
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