Court convicts the journalist who photographed the killing of Kemal Kurkut

* Photo: MLSA

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Having photographed the moment when university student Kemal Kurkut was shot to death by police during Diyarbakır Newroz in 2017, journalist Abdurrahman Gök has been sentenced to prison.

The sixth and final hearing of the journalist was held at the Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır today (June 30). Gök was facing the charges of "membership of a [terrorist/illegal] organization and "terror propaganda".

At today's hearing, Abdurrahman Gök made his defense as to the accusations brought by the prosecutor at the previous hearing. At that hearing on May 31, the prosecutor requested that Gök be acquitted of "membership of an organization" and be penalized for "terror propaganda".

In his defense, Gök asked, "Would I still be on trial here after eight years if I had written under the photographs cited as criminal evidence that they were taken in Libya or Azerbaijan rather than Kobanî?"

Following the recess, the court board has pronounced its verdict and ruled that journalist Abdurrahman Gök shall be acquitted of "organization membership" while it has ruled that the journalist shall be sentenced to 1 year, 6 month and 22 days in prison on charge of "propagandizing for a terrorist organization". The sentence has not been deferred.

What happened?

Journalist Abdurrahman Gök photographed the moment when university student Kemal Kurkut was shot to death by the police on March 21, 2017 during the Newroz celebrations in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

Eight days later, on March 29, he went to the Diyarbakır Courthouse with his lawyer and gave his statement to the Public Prosecutor who was conducting the investigation into the incident. Upon the prosecutor's request, the 26 photos that he had taken were also submitted to the office.

On April 20, the police raided the house of Gök in Diyarbakır's Bağlar, searched the house where he was not present at the time of the raid, seized four books, one magazine and two phones not used by him.

Afterwards, a lawsuit was filed against Gök over his phone conversations, social media posts and news; he faced 7 years to 20 years in prison.

At the fifth hearing, the prosecutor's office pronounced its final opinion as to the accusations and demanded that Gök be acquitted of "membership of a [terrorist/illagal] organization" as there was no definite or credible evidence proving that the offense charged had been commited.

Referring to his five social media messages, the prosecutor's office requested that Gök be penalized for "terror propaganda".

Gök was granted the "Metin Göktepe Journalism Awards - Jury Special Award" thanks to his related photograph. (HA/SD)