The Istanbul 11th High Criminal Court started the prosecution against Zaman newspaper reporter Büşra Erdal, Ankara correspondent Metin Arslan and responsible editor Hayri Beşer on 22 September. The journalists are tried on the grounds of news articles regarding decisions for the release of detained defendants of the "Ergenekon" and "Balyoz" Investigations.
The Media Association pointed out that more than 60 lawsuits have been opened against journalist Erdal and said that this was worrisome in terms of press freedom and freedom of information.
Media Association: Breach of international agreements
"Countless journalists from different press institutions are negatively affected by this situation. These contents and their applications are a breach of international agreements signed by Turkey and of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights".
Judges of the Istanbul 9th High Criminal Court Yılmaz Alp and Tuncay Aslan filed a criminal complaint against the journalists by reason of their news about the decisions of release. Erdal, Arslan and Beşer are indicted under Article 6/1 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMY) on "identifying officials on anti-terror duties as targets for terrorist organizations". They are facing imprisonment of between 1.5 and 4.5 years.
The current case is based on Erdal's news item entitled "The ones appointed in the HSYK crisis intervened - the Sledgehammer investigation is covered up" published on 2 April 2010 and the article "Mass releases were based on 'pirate' decree" dd. 3 April 2010.
Case adjourned to February 2011
The request for lack of jurisdiction submitted by Erdal's lawyer Hasan Günaydın was dismissed by the court. After the identities of the defendants were confirmed, the indictment was read out prior to the defence speeches. Erdal put forward that she had not been able to prepare her defence since she recently graduated from the faculty of law and because of the high number of cases filed against her. She requested additional time for her defence.
The court accepted the demand of complainant Yılmaz Alp's lawyer to join the proceedings. It was furthermore decreed to send a notification to the Ankara High Criminal Court in order to take the statement of defendant Metin Arslan. Erdal's request for additional time was accepted and the case was adjourned to 2 February 2011.
Journalist Erdal has many cases pending against her under charges of "violating the secrecy of an investigation" and "attempting to influence a fair trial". Erdal said, "We are tried at the Special Authority High Criminal Court for showing individuals as targets for terrorist organizations but it has not been clarified which terrorist organization the indictment refers to. The prosecutor in the hearing demanded to ask the prosecutor who prepared the indictment to clearly state which terrorist organization is meant. We also want to know this".
The General Publications Editor, Ali Akkuş, and the news editor, Fatih Uğur, of the Zaman daily were among the audience of the hearing.
The Zaman newspaper reported that the number of investigations launched by the Ministry of Justice increased from 4,139 in November 2009 to a current total number of more than 5,000 throughout the past six months. More than 3,500 of these investigations were opened against Zaman, Taraf, Bugün, Yeni Şafak, Star and Vakit newspapers. According to Zaman, about 2,000 investigations resulted in trials. (EÖ/VK)
