A series of court hearings involving journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society actors will take place across Turkey this week, as concerns persist over the country’s use of anti-terrorism laws to prosecute dissent and restrict press freedom. Several high-profile cases are scheduled, including the first hearings for Swedish journalist Joakim Medin and Turkish journalist Nurcan Kaya, both represented by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA).
Sept. 22, 2025 – Monday
At 10 a.m., the Ankara 5th High Criminal Court will hold the 13th hearing in a long-running case involving 22 unresolved political assassinations from the 1990s. The case includes the killings of journalist Uğur Mumcu, former Ankara Bar Association Chair Muammer Aksoy, academic Bahriye Üçok, and politician Ahmet Taner Kışlalı. Mumcu was killed in a car bomb attack outside his home on January 24, 1993. The trial seeks accountability for a wave of high-profile murders widely believed to have been politically motivated but never solved.
At 11 a.m., three journalists from the left-wing newspaper BirGün—Board Chair İbrahim Aydın, Online Editor Uğur Koç, and Managing Editor Yaşar Gökdemir—will appear before the Istanbul 23rd High Criminal Court. They are accused of “targeting individuals involved in counter-terrorism” and “publicly insulting a public official” in connection with a news report that mentioned Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek. The case has drawn criticism from press freedom advocates, who see it as part of a broader pattern of criminalizing journalism in Turkey.
Sept. 23, 2025 – Tuesday
At 9:50 a.m., Kurdish writer and TV producer Mehmet Şahin will appear at the Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court in a retrial stemming from a 2018 indictment. Şahin, known for his Zaza-language television programs, had been sentenced in 2022 to 6 years and 3 months in prison for “membership in a terrorist organization.” The case was based on his participation in press statements, protest marches, and speeches at Democratic Society Congress (DTK) meetings in Kurdish, as well as contact with DTK members during his broadcasts. An appeals court overturned the conviction, and his case was merged with another file involving 20 other journalists and media workers producing content for Kurdish-language channels abroad.
At 10:10 a.m., the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court will hear the first session of journalist and human rights defender Nurcan Kaya’s trial. Kaya is charged with “membership in an armed terrorist organization” and “violating the law on the financing of terrorism,” based on her civil society and journalism work. MLSA is providing her legal defense. Kaya had previously been placed under house arrest for nearly 100 days prior to her indictment.
At 11:45 a.m., the Istanbul 26th High Criminal Court will resume proceedings against former senior editors of the now-shuttered Zaman newspaper—Mehmet Kamış and Ali Çolak. They face multiple terrorism-related charges, including “attempting to overthrow the Turkish Grand National Assembly,” “attempting to overthrow the government,” “attempting to abolish the constitutional order,” and “membership in a terrorist organization.” Zaman was Turkey’s largest-circulation newspaper before it was closed by decree following the 2016 coup attempt.
At 2 p.m., the Istanbul 28th Criminal Court of First Instance will hold the first hearing in a case involving representatives of TÜSİAD, Turkey’s top business association. The executives are charged with “publicly spreading misleading information” and “attempting to influence the judiciary,” over public remarks emphasizing the importance of the rule of law. The case is being prosecuted under Turkey’s controversial disinformation law, commonly referred to as the “censorship law” by critics.
Sept. 25, 2025 – Thursday
At 9:05 a.m., the Istanbul 22nd High Criminal Court will continue the trial of journalist Can Dündar, the former editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet. Dündar is being prosecuted for “printing or publishing statements of terrorist organizations” after participating in the 2016 “Editor-in-Chief on Watch” campaign in support of the pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem. The symbolic campaign, which involved prominent journalists taking turns editing the paper for a day, led to the prosecution of several participants. Dündar has been living in exile in Germany since 2016.
At 10:10 a.m., Swedish journalist Joakim Medin will appear before the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court for the first hearing in his trial on charges of “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” Medin was arrested at Istanbul Airport on March 27, 2025, and jailed the following day. He was released after 50 days in detention, following an appeal by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), which is representing him. Two separate indictments were filed against Medin—one for terrorism and one for “insulting the President.” He was sentenced to 11 months and 20 days in prison on the latter charge.
At 11:40 a.m., the Ankara 68th Criminal Court of First Instance will hold another hearing in the trial of 23 individuals detained during protests marking the anniversary of the 2015 Suruç bombing. The attack, which killed 33 activists in the southeastern town of Suruç near the Syrian border, was attributed to the Islamic State group. The defendants were arrested while commemorating the incident.
At 2 p.m., TELE1 editor-in-chief Merdan Yanardağ will appear before the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance for a retrial. An appeals court overturned his prior conviction and 7-year, 15-day prison sentence over a 2021 opinion column titled “The mafia-ization of the regime,” published in BirGün newspaper. He is being retried on charges related to allegedly “spreading misleading information.”
At 2 p.m., the Istanbul 26th High Criminal Court will continue hearing the case against lawyer Nazan Betül Vangölü Kozağaçlı, who was arrested while working at the People’s Law Office. She spent one year in pre-trial detention before being released under a travel ban following a hearing on February 12. Prosecutors are charging her with “membership in a terrorist organization,” based on her legal work and client advocacy.
Sept. 26, 2025 – Friday
At 10 a.m., the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance will resume the trial of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul and the opposition’s presidential candidate, who is currently imprisoned in Silivri Prison. İmamoğlu is charged with “attempting to influence a judicial expert witness or witness” over comments he made during a press conference titled “The big reveal,” in which he named an expert witness involved in a case against him. The trial has added to growing concerns among human rights groups and the international community over the use of the judiciary to sideline political opponents in Turkey.
