Ministry of Justice: There are No Statistics on Arrested Journalists

"Freedom to journalists"

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Ministry of Justice has answered the Parliamentary question of main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Utku Çakırözer, who asked, "How many people are put on trial and how many people are arrested on the ground of an article published on a newspaper or website?".

The General Directorate of Criminal Records and Statistics of Ministry of Justice has responded to the question of Çakırözer. "Considering that the data as detailed as requested are about information that requires a separate or special study, research, inquiry and analysis, no statistical information can be presented", the General Directorate has indicated.

'They could not say "There are no arrested journalists"'

Releasing a written statement, Çakırözer has stated, "It is not said that 'there are no arrested journalists'. It is said that 'we could not count them'. Journalists, writers, illustrators, intellectuals, thinkers can be easily put on trial with unjust indıctments, swiftly penalized and unjustly imprisoned because of an article, comic or a tweet that they shared. Up to this day, it has has been stubbornly said by rote that 'there are not arrested journalists'.

"Now, the Ministry of Justice could not say that 'there are no arrested journalists', it said, 'We could not count them'. Because it is not rational to say that there are 'no' arrested journalists because the whole world knows that tens of journalists are in prison and hundreds of others are tried due to their articles. Journalist-writer Güray Öz turned 70 at Kandıra Prison. Tens of journalists and writers like Güray Öz have been waiting for the Parliament to open and to start working on the Judicial Reform". (RT/SD)