Deniz Tekin
The retrial of journalist Yelda Çiçek began in Diyarbakır after Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled that her right to a fair trial was violated in a previous conviction related to her coverage of 2019 protests against government-appointed trustees.
The first hearing of the retrial was held at the 4th Criminal Court of First Instance in Diyarbakır, a Kurdish-majority city in southeastern Turkey. Çiçek and two other defendants named in the same case were present. Members of the Mesopotamia Women Journalists Association (MKG) and other journalists observed the hearing.
During the identity verification phase, the presiding judge noted that the Constitutional Court application numbers differed among the defendants. Çiçek’s lawyer confirmed that the court ruling specifically pertained to his client by presenting the relevant case file number from the top court’s decision.
In her defense statement, Çiçek repeated her earlier testimony: “I was detained while covering a news story. Despite showing my press card, I was subjected to violence. This wasn’t the first time, and journalists in the field still face similar treatment.”
Her lawyer, Burhan Arta, echoed her remarks and requested that procedural deficiencies in the case be addressed. Lawyers for the other defendants stated their clients would be present at the next hearing. The prosecutor also requested that the missing elements in the case be completed.
The court postponed the trial to May 27, granting time for the attorneys of co-defendants Berkin Can and Mehmet Nur Güneş to prepare for their clients' testimony, which had not yet been heard.
Background: Arrest during protest coverage and top court ruling
Yelda Çiçek was detained on August 21, 2019, while reporting on protests in Diyarbakır against the Turkish government’s appointment of kayyums—trustees replacing elected mayors, a practice widely used in Kurdish-majority municipalities. She was later charged with violating Turkey’s Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations.
On September 22, 2021, the Diyarbakır 4th Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced her to five months in prison. The sentence was deferred under a legal provision that postpones the announcement of a verdict (known in Turkish as HAGB), meaning it would not be enforced unless she committed another offense within five years.
After her appeals were rejected, Çiçek brought the case to the Constitutional Court. The top court ruled that the deferred verdict violated her right to a fair trial, guaranteed under Article 36 of the Turkish Constitution. The decision triggered the current retrial.
