Journalist Perihan Kaya was sentenced to prison yesterday during the tenth hearing of her retrial on charges of spreading ""terrorist propaganda" under Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK).
Kaya, who resides abroad, did not attend the hearing at the Diyarbakır 10th Heavy Penal Court while her lawyer Resul Temur was present.
The prosecution repeated the final opinion on the merits presented in the previous session, requesting that Kaya be punished for the alleged crime.
Defending against the opinion, Resul Temur stated, "The social media account in question was taken under investigation when there was no existing investigation against my client. The virtual patrol regulation has been annulled by the Constitutional Court. For this reason, the evidence in question should not be taken as a basis for the verdict."
In the remainder of the defense, Temur referred to the precedents of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). He argued that the news-related posts subject to the case could not be considered elements of a crime and requested her acquittal.
Announcing its decision, the court sentenced Kaya to 1 year, 6 months, and 22 days in prison for the crime of "terrorist propaganda." Since Kaya had previously received a suspension of the announcement of the verdict (HAGB) in a case in Dersim, the court did not apply HAGB in this case on the grounds that she committed a crime within the probation period.
Background
The case against journalist Perihan Kaya was filed on charges of "terrorist propaganda" and "membership in a terrorist organization." The indictment alleged that she was "responsible for the press field of the KCK structure," citing her membership in the closed Free Journalists Association (ÖGC), social media posts, phone calls with colleagues, and secret witness statements.
In the indictment, eight posts made in 2015 on a Facebook account allegedly belonging to Kaya and 24 tweets with unknown dates were presented as evidence for the charges.
During the first hearing held on Mar 24, 2021, Kaya was sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison for "organization propaganda," while she was acquitted of the "organization membership" charge.
However, the appellate court overturned the local court's decision and sent the file back for a retrial, ruling that the provisions for successive crimes were not considered and the sentence given was insufficient. (HA/VK)
