Journalists Following Şule Çet Case Targeted

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The family of Çağatay Aksu, one of the two defendants put on trial for allegedly causing the death of university student Şule Çet, has prepared a report on the journalists, women's rights defenders and MPs following and reporting on her suspicious death and the judicial process.

Defendants Aksu and Berk Akand have been facing aggravated life sentence on charges of "murder", "sexual assault" and "false imprisonment".

The name of the report allegedly sent to the MPs of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is the following: "Şule Çet Case: The Real Course of Events in Şule Çet Case, How was the Public Opinion Misled? The Truths of Case File with Official Documents."

'Our reaction is not against Çet or her family'

The report prepared by the families of the defendants consists of 141 pages. In the introduction to the report, it has been indicated, "First of all, it needs to be known that our reaction is not against innocent Şule Çet, who lost his life at such a young age, or against her grieved family."

The introduction has also underlined that "there is nothing more natural than investigating the cause of death of a young girl who suspiciously fell from a high place and lost her life so sadly, just as there is nothing more natural than inquiring whether it was suicide, an accident or a murder and attempting to determine whether she was raped or not."

The following remarks have been made further in the introduction:

"However, it needs to be first determined whether the Şule Çet case was a feminicide, a suicide or and accidental fall from a high place and that is why, the Şule Çet case been continuing for four hearings and for a year.

"This case is neither open to discussion as in the case of political cases, nor can it be mitigated on cultural grounds such as 'honor'. Because, on the one side, there is a young girl who lost her life; and on the other side, there are two young men who argue that they are not responsible for this situation and they did not commit any of the crimes of false imprisonment, rape or murder.

"Since their first deposition, Aksu and Akand have also been indicating that they did not have any sexual intimacy with Şule Çet. This case is being conducted on the sole basis of concrete evidence, records and witnesses."

People allegedly 'incited to enmity, hatred'

The report also has a chapter entitled "the Main Parties Directing the Public Through Social Media and Press". In this chapter, lawyers of Çet family Umur Yıldırım, Ferhat Gebeş, Pelin Soylu and Onur Tatar are called "the directing side" because they inform the public about the issue.

The same chapter also refers to Women Defense Assemblies' Spokesperson Rüya İnanır as well as Spokespersons of the Justice for Şule Çet Commission Ceren Çoban, Neslihan Duran, Nazlı Yöyler, Alev Özkiraz Melisa Demir and make similar accusations about them.

The report alleges that the messages shared on Justice for Şule Çet social media account "incited the public to enmity and hatred".

Gülsüm Kav referred to as an MP

bianet is also one of the news websites following the suspicious death of Şule Çet and the lawsuit filed against the defendants.

The report has claimed that bianet published its news reports on Şule Çet upon the instruction of lawyer Umur Yıldırım. The screenshots taken from bianet news have also been added to the report.

Moreover, journalists Evrim Kepenek, Fevzi Kızılkoyun, Erk Acarer, Ayşe Arman, İnci Hekimoğlu, Burcu Yıldırım, Alican Uludağ, Fatih Altaylı, Pınar Doğu, Işıl Özgentürk, Cengiz Semercioğlu, Nagehan Alçı, Ece Üner and Hatice Ekinci have been targeted by the report.

While MPs Filiz Kerestecioğlu and Necati Tığlı, who follow the lawsuit, are accused of misleading the public, Gülsüm Kav, the Spokesperson for the Feminicides Platform, is referred to an MP for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). However, Kav is not an MP. (EMK/SD)

Click here for the full report (Turkish)