Prosecutor demanded punishment for Özgür Gündem’s reporting on self-governance
İstanbul - Twelfth hearing of the trial where since shut Özgür Gündem daily’s former Co-Editors-in-Chief Eren Keskin, Hüseyin Aykol, former Managing Editor Reyhan Çapan, and columnists İslam Tüner, Lütfi Yavuzaslan, Methi Kaya, Hasan Başak and Kemal Yakut face “terrorist propaganda” charges was held at İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court today. Journalists are accused of propaganda because of Özgür Gündem’s reporting on “self-governance” in Kurdish provinces in March 2016.
Kaya’s lawyer Reşat Aydın and Çapan’s and Aykol’s lawyyer Özcan Kılıç were the only ones who attended the hearing.
It was learned during the hearing that Eren Keskin’s file was separated to be merged with the main Özgür Gündem trial, which is being heard before İstanbul 26th High Criminal Court.
Public prosecutor Abdullah Gül presented his final opinion as to the merits of the case during this hearing. The prosecutor demanded Reyhan Çapan to be punished for “provocation to commit a crime” and “terrorist propaganda” charges and Hüseyin Aykol, İslam Tüner, Lütfi Yavuzaslan, Methi Kaya, Hüseyin Başak and Kemal Yakut to be punished for “provocation to commit a crime,” “praising an offender,” and “terrorist propaganda” charges.
The court granted defense lawyers additional time to prepare their defense statements in response to the prosecution’s demands. The trial is adjourned until November 21st, 2019.