Lawsuit against two journalists after complaint by deputy justice minister

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Lawsuits have been filed against two journalists after a complaint by Akın Gürlek, the deputy justice minister and a former judge.

Canan Coşkun, a reporter for the Diken news portal, and Barış Pehlivan, a columnist for the daily Cumhuriyet, are charged with "marking a counterterrorism official as a target."

Prosecutor Cüneyt Kerimhan Acer alleged that the two journalists exposed the cases Gürlek heard and the courts he worked at.

With her news report, Coşkun revealed the content of the case concerning the Religious Scholars Solidarity Association (DİAYDER) and marked Gürlek as a target for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), according to the indictment.

The prosecutor demanded prison sentences of up to three years for the journalists. Accepting the indictment, the İstanbul 34th Heavy Penal Court stated that the first hearing will be held on October 27.

Gürlek wasn't a "counterterrorism official"

Article 6/1 of the Anti-Terror Law says, "Those who announce that the crimes of a terrorist organization are aimed at certain persons, whether or not such persons are named, or who disclose or publish the identity of officials on anti-terrorist duties, or who identify such persons as targets shall be punished by imprisonment for 1 to 3 years."

However, Akın Gürlek was not an official who held "anti-terrorist duties."

About Akın Gürlek

Gürlek was the presiding judge of the İstanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court before his appointment as the deputy minister.

He was the presiding judge of the court that convicted columnists for daily Sözcü for "aiding an illegal organization."

That court sentenced Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) former Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş to 4 years and 8 months in prison and former HDP deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder to 3 years and 6 months in prison for "propagandizing for a terrorist organization."

It also sentenced Progressive Lawyers' Association (ÇHD) lawyers to 159 years in prison in total.

It sentenced Canan Kaftancıoğlu, the İstanbul chair of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), to 9 years and 8 months in prison because of her social media posts. It declared journalist Can Dündar a "fugitive" and issued an order to confiscate his real estate.

The court headed by Gürlek sentenced former Cumhuriyet reporter Canan Coşkun to 2 years and 3 months in prison for "marking counterterrorism officials as a target."

It sentenced Sebnem Korur-Fincancı, the head of the Turkish Medical Association, to 2 years and 6 months in prison.

Gürlek also gave a decision defying the verdict of the Constitutional Court in the case concerning journalist Enis Berberoğlu.

After this decision, the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK), the country's judicial overseeing body, promoted Gürlek to the position of "first class judge," violating its own principle that "judges who do not comply with Constitutional Court rulings cannot be promoted."

The HSK hasn't investigated the complaints against Gürlek. On the contrary, it paved the way for Gürlek's appointment to the Court of Cassation, the top appeals court, and the Constitutional Court, as a "first class judge."

CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has publicly criticized the judge, calling him "the judge of the palace." (HA/VK)