Court will inquire with prosecutor's office whether bianet is a news website

Journalists Haluk Kalafat and Elif Akgül appeared before a judge yesterday (October 19) in the trial where they are charged with "publicly insulting the Turkish nation" for six news articles published on bianet in 2015, 2018, and 2019.

The trial, scheduled to begin at 13:30 at the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court in Çağlayan, started with a three-hour delay at 16:30.

During the first trial on April 27, a delay of four and a half hours had occurred, prompting Akgül and Kalafat's lawyers to submit an excuse to the case.

In today's trial, Akgül and Kalafat were represented by their lawyers Veysel Ok and Doğuşcan Aydın Aygün. Additionally, Erol Önderoğlu, the Representative of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in Turkey, was present to observe the proceedings.

At the beginning of the trial, lawyer Veysel Ok expressed his intention to present an objection before proceeding to the statement phase. He pointed out that the investigation began with a complaint in 2019, the indictment was prepared on December 9, 2021, and the decision record was made in December 2022. However, he reminded that internet news sites were subject to the Press Law only in October 2022. Therefore, he argued that the statute of limitations had expired and requested an immediate dismissal of the case without taking the defendants' defense.

Prosecutor Mehmet Ateş stated that the statute of limitations for internet news sites would be applicable from October 2022 and requested the rejection of the request.

Judge Ali Çalı asked Akgül and Kalafat whether bianet was an official news organization and whether they had submitted a declaration to the prosecutor at their location. The journalists noted that they no longer worked for bianet and had no information on this matter.

In response, Judge Çalı rejected the request and began to hear their defense against the indictment.

Elif Akgül mentioned in her defense that she had been practicing journalism for 12 years, with 10 of those years focused on following cases related to press and freedom of expression. She said, "I have followed many cases similar to the one I am being tried for. Now I am the one on trial."

Akgül added, "I only introduced an English book in Turkish. When the case was opened, I read the indictment, but you can ask, 'Did you understand the indictment?' I didn't understand anything because there is no reasoning behind the accusation. The prosecutor of the indictment claimed that these were crimes by placing pieces from my article, without even specifying which sentence or expression in the article constitutes an insult."

The former bianet employee asserted, "I have not insulted any institution, state, or nation. What I did was journalism. Journalism is not a crime."

"No insult in the news"

Haluk Kalafat also spoke at the court and said, "When I read the indictment, like Elif, I didn't understand what the accusation was." He mentioned that the subject of the accusation was an interview he conducted about a book in 2015. He added, "That book is still on sale today, it's not banned. I couldn't find a word that would lead to insult among the quotations cited as a crime in the indictment. The indictment does not even specify which words are considered a crime. What I did was journalism, and it can be evaluated within the scope of freedom of the press and freedom of expression. I request my acquittal."

"The aim is to prosecute and convict journalism"

After Kalafat, Veysel Ok spoke again, explaining that submitting a declaration to the local prosecutor was a separate procedure, and being considered an internet news website was not contingent on this declaration.

Nevertheless, he requested writing a letter to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to inquire about this issue.

Prosecutor Ateş stated that there were no additional investigations and that the final opinion on the merits of the case was ready. In his opinion, he asked for the punishment of Akgül and Kalafat under Turkish Criminal Code 301.

Upon this, Akgül and Kalafat requested time to prepare their defense against the final opinion.

The court decided to write a memorandum to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to ask whether bianet had submitted a declaration and to investigate whether it had the characteristics of an internet news site.

The next hearing for the case is scheduled for February 20, 2024. (HA/PE)