Six journalists stood trial in a week for 'terrorism,' insulting government officials

İstanbul Courthouse (Photo: AA)

Lawsuits against six journalists continued this week while an appeals court upheld verdicts about 11 journalists in the case of now-defunct daily Özgür Gündem newspaper, according to bianet's Media Monitoring Database.

Here is this week's round-up:

Charges based on 'anonymous witness' testimony

On Monday (September 21), the fourth hearing of a case the owner of a local newspaper in the Kurdish-majority Diyarbakır province was held.

Ferhat Parlak, the owner of the Silvan Mücadele newspaper, is charged with "membership of a terrorist organization" based on anonymous witness statements and faces 15 years of prison term.

Parlak was remanded in custody in April 2018 and released last July.

At this week's hearing, the prosecutor's office presented the final opinion as to the accusations, demanding journalist Ferhat Parlak be punished for "membership of a terrorist organization." The court decided not to take anonymous witness testimonies that had been awaited. The next trial will be held on December 7.

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Journalist indicted over a tweet from six years ago

The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on September 22 indicted journalist Sabiha Temizkan over a Twitter post from 2014.

"Makhmour camp has been taken over by ISIS..." she had said in the tweet, referring to a refugee camp in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

Temizkan is charged with "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per Article 7 of the Anti-Terror Law.

The court adjourned the trial until 15 October to give time for the preparation of defense statements.

Article 7 of the Law on Fight Against Terrorism says, "Any person making propaganda for a terrorist organization shall be punished with imprisonment from one to five years. If this crime is committed through means of mass media, the penalty shall be aggravated by one half."

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Journalists on trial for "degrading the government"

The case against journalists Hüseyin Aykol, Hatip Dicle, Zana Kaya and İnan Kızılkaya for "publicly degrading the government, the judiciary or the police force" and "publicly degrading the Turkish nation, the Turkish Republic and the Parliament" continued at the 2nd Penal Court of First Instance.

At the 16th hearing on September 22, the previous session minutes were readout due to the change of judge. The court decided to await the execution of the arrest warrant against Dicle and the trial was adjourned to 15 December (22 September).

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Verdicts were upheld in the Özgür Gündem trial

On September 23, the 3rd Penal Chamber of the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice upheld the prison sentences of seven journalists and acquittal of four journalists in the lawsuit filed against the "Editors-in-Chief on Watch" campaign in solidarity with the Özgür Gündem newspaper, which was shut down by a Statutory Decree on October 26, 2016.

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Lawsuit for insulting a judge

A lawsuit was filed against İnan Kızılkaya, the former responsible managing editor of Özgür Gündem and journalist Can Dündar, editor-in-chief on Watch campaign supporting the Özgür Gündem daily, based on the complaints of Judge Bekir Altun of Penal Court of Peace about "insulting" him in relation to an article published in Özgür Gündem.

The first hearing of the case was not held as scheduled on April 4.

The trial resumed on September 23 and was adjourned to December 15.

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(VK)