Journalism and freedom of expression trials: Week of April 18

This week, the hearings of several journalism and freedom of expression trials will be held. Below is the list of these hearings:

April 18th, Monday

• The eighth hearing of the trial in which Yeni Yaşam daily reporter Hatice Şahin faces “membership in a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Diyarbakır 9th High Criminal Court, at 09:05. Şahin was detained with 144 other people on October 9, 2018 as part of a criminal investigation against Democratic Society Congress (DTK). The indictment presents her flights from Diyarbakır to İstanbul and phone conversations with news sources as evidence against journalist Şahin.

April 19th, Tuesday

• The 18th hearing of the trial in which journalist Abdullah Kaya faces “membership in a terrorist organization” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charges will be held in the Ağrı 2nd High Criminal Court, at 09:00. In the indictment, the footage Kaya had recorded at events he had covered in 2014-2015 and social media posts he had shared on his personal account, are presented as evidence against the journalist.
• The 11th hearing of the trial in which journalist Hayri Demir faces  “membership in a terrorist organization” and “making terrorist propaganda” charges will be held in the Ankara 15th High Criminal Court, at 09:30. This new trial received media attention because evidence presented in the indictment included footage and photographs taken by Demir while he was covering news in Syria. This footage was inside a memory card from a camera that was stolen from Demir’s home in Ankara.
• The seventh hearing of the trial in which author Ahmet Altan faces “insult” charge will be held in the Anadolu 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09:35. Altan is tried in this case which was re-initiated ten years after the sentence he received in another trial was upheld by a court of appeals, for allegedly insulting the then President Court of Cassation Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya with his article titled “Preparation for a coup or shutting down Kemalism” published on Taraf newspaper in 2008.
• The fifth hearing of the trial in which journalist Cengiz Çandar whom MLSA represents in court and activist Kemal Işıktaş face “praising an offence and the offender” charge will be held in the İstanbul 30th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 09:45. The indictment presents a 2017 tweet in which Çandar and Işıktaş commemorated Ayşe Deniz Karacagil who died fighting ISIS. In the indictment, the prosecution claims that Karacagil died fighting for a terrorist organization in Raqqa and that praising her on social media would constitute an open threat to public peace.
• The 10th hearing of the trial in which former President Abdullah Gül’s press advisor and journalist Ahmet Sever faces “insulting a public official” charge upon complaint by the 29th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly Mustafa Şentop will be held in the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10:55. The indictment presents the statements about Şentop in the pages between 208-210 of Sever’s book İçimde Kalmasın/Tanıklığımdır published in 2018 and in his article published in T24 titled “Ahmet Hakan, even I cannot save you” as evidence against Sever. The pages in question from the book contain a chapter titled “Who are the AKP members who said ‘we’ll imprison Gül and Davutoğlu?” The prosecution claims that Sever insulted Şentop “in a consecutive manner.”
• The second hearing of the trial in which the Co-Chair of Human Rights Association (İHD) Attorney Öztürk Türkdoğan faces “membership in a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Ankara 19th High Criminal Court, at 14:00. The indictment presents the activities Türkdoğan carried out as a human rights defender and eight news articles published in ANF between 2015 and 2020 in which Türkdoğan was mentioned, as evidence against the human rights defender.

April 20th, Wednesday

• The 17th hearing of the trial in which journalist Rüstem Batum whom MLSA represents in court, faces “insulting the president” charge will be held in the İstanbul 41st Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10:45. The indictment presents Batum’s statements during his TV appearance on journalist Ayşegül Doğan’s programme aired on İMC TV in September 2015.

April 21st, Thursday

• The third hearing of the trial in which journalist Derya Okatan faces “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charge will be held in the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court, at 10:30. The indictment, which is the end result of a criminal investigation led by Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office since 2019, presents the social media posts shared on Etkin News Agency’s (ETHA) social media accounts during the time Okatan was the editor-in-chief as evidence against the journalist. The concerned posts include the news reports on the military operation conducted by Turkish Armed Forces and Free Syrian Army in and around Efrin, in 2018 and the reactions to the operation. The prosecutor demands imprisonment for Okatan up to 8 years and 9 months.
• The sixth hearing of the trial in which  journalist Rojda Oğuz faces “membership in a terrorist organization” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” charges will be held in the Van 5th High Criminal Court, at 10:40. Oğuz stands trial among 55 defendants and evidence presented against the journalist include press statements and demonstrations she had attended as well as her social media posts. Attending a demonstration against the Roboski massacre is among the evidence. The indictment also lists a letter dated Feb 10, 2016 from the General Directorate of Press, Broadcasting and Information, which used to be affiliated to the Prime Minister’s office, stating that the institution’s records do not show that Oğuz has a press card.
• The third hearing of the trial in which 14 members of Kocaeli Student Solidarity and EMEP Central Executive Board Member Tarık Erkan, the Head of the Kocaeli Branch of the Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim Sen) Suphi Yıldırım and the Branch Secretary Ömer Furkan Özdemir face “defying the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations no. 2911” and “prevention of public duty” charges will be held in the Kocaeli 5th Criminal Court of First Instance, at 10:50. 17 people stand trial for attending the press release organized by Kocaeli Student Solidarity on February 11 to show solidarity with the students of Boğaziçi University who had been detained at the protests against “the appointed rector” Melih Bulu. The indictment presents a banner inscribed with “We will not look down, we will not bow down” and the slogan “the appointed rector will go, we will stay” as evidence against 17 people.
• The ninth hearing of the trial in which former President Abdullah Gül’s press advisor and journalist Ahmet Sever faces “insulting the president” charge will be held in the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, at 11:40. The indictment presents 25 sentences some of which are not directly about Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the pages between 15 and 243 of Sever’s book İçimde Kalmasın/Tanıklığımdır published in 2018 as evidence against Sever. The prosecutor claims that Sever insulted Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “by accusing him.”

April 22nd, Friday

• The eighth hearing of the “Gezi Case” in which 17 people, including Osman Kavala, Can Dündar and Mehmet Ali Alabora face “attempt to abolish, replace or prevent the implementation of, through force and violence, the constitutional order of the republic of Turkey”, “damage to property”, “possession or exchange of hazardous substances without permission”, “damaging places of worship and cemeteries”, “qualified looting”, “qualified bodily injury” and “defying the Law no. 2863 on the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Property” charges will be held in the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court, at 10:00. The “Gezi Case” held at the Istanbul 30th High Criminal Court  was merged with the “Çarşı Case” four days before the hearing scheduled for 6 August 2021. After being tried with 35 defendants of the Çarşı case for five hearings, on February 21st, 2022, the court decided to separate the case files of the 17 Gezi case defendants once again. The prosecutor Edip Şahiner who submitted his final opinion as to accusations on March 4th, 2022 requested aggravated life sentences for Osman Kavala and Ayşe Mücella Yapıcı for “attempting to abolish, replace or prevent the implementation of, through force and violence, the constitutional order of the republic of Turkey.”