Journalists Alayumat and Akman Acquitted

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Journalists Erdoğan Alayumat and Nuri Akman, who were charged with "membership of a terrorist organization" and "espionage" because of their news articles and photographs, were acquitted at the hearing that took place at the Hatay 2nd Heavy Penal Court on March 1.

Alayumat and Akman were working for the Dicle News Agency (dihaber), which was shut down upon the No. 675 Statutory Decree in October 2016.

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Speaking to the daily Evrensel, Alayumat said that they were on trial for "acquiring the state's information that should stay confidential for the purposes of military or political espionage" and "membership of a terrorist organization" and that the basis of the allegations against them were their acts of journalism.

After being arrested for 10 months because of the photographs he shot, Alayumat was released in May 2018.

Complaint for shooting grain silos

In its opinion as to the accusations, the Prosecutor's Office requested Nuri Akman's acquittal from all charges. For Alayumat, it requested acquittal from espionage and a prison sentence from membership of a terrorist organization.

The Prosecutor's Office also filed a complaint against Akman because of his social media posts and Alayumat because he shot the photographs of grain silos, which it claimed was a military zone.

The court acquitted both two journalists from all charges.

What happened?

Alayumat and Akman were taken into custody over "reasonable suspicion" on July 13, 2017 in Turkey's southern province of Hatay that neighbors Syria. After being kept in detention for two weeks, Alayumat was arrested on July 27 and Akman was released on probation pending trial by the Hatay 2nd Heavy Penal Court.

In the bill of indictment against the two journalists, the news articles they wrote, the photographs they shot, the interviews they made, the phone calls they made with their colleagues were also included. The indictment also mentioned that the two journalists' stories on the military mobilization on the border areas, ecology and prisons. (AÖ/VK)