Freedom of Expression and the Press in Turkey – 216

Mezopotamya news agency (MA) İzmir reporter Ruken Demir, Jin News reporter Melike Aydın and 10 other people, including executives from the Association for Solidarity with Families of Prisoners (TUHAY-DER) were arrested in İzmir on 12 November 2019 as part of an investigation by the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. The detainees were not allowed to see their lawyers for 24 hours.
 
Demir and Aydın, who were arrested for “acting on behalf of a terrorist organization,” were questioned about the phone calls they had with their news sources and the content of their news stories.
 
Demir and Aydın were brought to the İzmir Courthouse on 15 November. After giving their statements to a prosecutor, they were referred to the 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace, which ruled to jail both journalists pending trial in the early hours of 16 November. Both Demir and Aydın were sent to the İzmir Aliağa Şakran Women’s Prison.
 
In addition to Demir and Aydın, the court jailed nine other people arrested as part of the investigation while it ruled to release one of the suspects under an international travel ban.
 
MA reporter Ömer Akın briefly detained
 
Mezopotamya news agency reporter Ömer Akın was taken into custody in the Derik district of Mardin on 15 November 2019. He was detained in connection with an investigation against him by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. After undergoing a medical examination, Akın was taken to the Derik Courthouse, where he gave his statement to a prosecutor and was subsequently released the same day.
 
Canan Coşkun, Tuba Demir and Kazım Kızıl released after 1 day in custody
 
Journalists Canan Coşkun and Tuba Demir and documentary filmmaker Kazım Kızıl were taken into custody on 13 November 2019 in the Eynesil district of Giresun, where they had gone to cover the Parliamentary Investigation Commission’s investigation into the suspicious death of 11-year-old Rabia Naz Vatan in 2018. The girl lost her life in the hospital after being found severely wounded in front of her house. Rabia Naz Vatan’s father Şaban Vatan was also arrested.
 
According to the Giresun Governor’s Office, the four were arrested for locking up Mürsel Küçükal, a witness in the investigation of Rabia Naz Vatan’s death, in a studio to threaten him.
 
After their interrogations, the four were referred to the Görele Criminal Judgeship of Peace, where they were released under judicial control measures on the night of 14 November. Besides an international travel ban, the court ruled to prohibit the four from approaching the witness’ home.
 
Fatih Polat acquitted of “insulting the president”
 
Fatih Polat, the editor-in-chief of Evrensel daily, appeared before an Istanbul court on 14 November 2019 for the fourth and final hearing of his trial on the charge of “insulting the president” over his article dated 28 May 2017.
 
The court acquitted Polat on the grounds that the article was within the scope of the freedom to inform the public under Article 28 of the Constitution.
 
A report about the hearing, monitored by P24, can be accessed here.
 
Hakkı Boltan to be brought to court by force
 
The first hearing in the trial of Free Journalists Initiative (ÖGİ) Spokesperson Hakkı Boltan on the charges of “insulting the president” and “insulting a public official” was held on 14 November 2019 at Diyarbakır’s 12th Criminal Court of First Instance. Neither Boltan nor his lawyer were in attendance. Issuing an interim decision, the court ruled for Boltan to be forcibly brought to court for the next hearing, set for 4 February 2020.
 
Trial of former TV10 employees adjourned
 
The third hearing in the trial of Kemal Demir and Kemal Karagöz, the former employees of the shuttered TV station TV10, was held on 14 November 2019 at the 28th High Criminal Court of Istanbul.
 
Demir and Karagöz did not attend the hearing, where Demir was represented by his lawyer, Bertan Öztunç. Reminding the court that his client was employed at TV10 first as an office boy and then a driver before becoming a cameraman, Öztunç said, “My client should have been a witness rather than a defendant in this case.” Öztunç requested the court to lift the judicial control measures imposed on Demir and acquit his client. Ruling for the continuation of the judicial control measures imposed on both defendants, the court adjourned the trial until 28 January 2020.
 
Ahmet Altan re-arrested 8 days after being released
 
Novelist and journalist Ahmet Altan, who was released on 4 November 2019 after spending more than 3 years behind bars at the end of the second hearing in his retrial, was re-arrested on 13 November upon the prosecution’s objection to his release.
 
The 27th High Criminal Court of Istanbul issued an arrest warrant for Altan on the grounds that “the judicial control measures imposed on him” remained “insufficient considering flight risk … the intensity of his actions, the duration of the prison sentence he was given, the time he spent in detention on remand … as well as his conduct following his release.”
 
A report about Altan’s re-arrest can be accessed here.
 
A report about the objection filed by Ahmet Altan’s lawyer Figen Albuga Çalıkuşu against his re-arrest can be accessed here.

Read our full weekly report here
https://expressioninterrupted.com/freedom-of-expression-and-the-press-in-turkey-216/