Trial Calendar – Sept. 21, 2026

Ten hearings will be held this week in cases against journalists, lawyers and others prosecuted over activities protected by freedom of expression. The hearings will take place on Sept. 22, 23 and 24 before courts in Ankara, Diyarbakır and Istanbul. Lawyer Sezin Uçar, who has been held in pretrial detention for five months, will appear before a judge for the first time, and a verdict is expected in the trial over the killing of journalist Hakan Tosun. The trial of journalist Deniz Yücel, who is represented by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), on a charge of “insulting a public official,” and the KCK Press Case, in which journalist Dilek Demiral is among the defendants, will also be heard this week.

Tuesday, Sept. 22

9:00 a.m. – The fifth hearing in the trial of 37 people who took part in the 2022 METU Pride March, charged with “violating Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations,” will be held at the Ankara 30th Criminal Court of First Instance. The defendants are accused of “participating unarmed in a demonstration and failing to disperse despite a warning.”

9:30 a.m. – The trial of journalists Timur Soykan and Barış Pehlivan, charged with “publicly disseminating misleading information” (Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code) over their remarks about the judiciary on the Halk TV program “Kayda Geçsin,” will continue at the Bakırköy 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. The two journalists face between one year and six months and four years and six months in prison.

10:00 a.m. – The trial of Abdurrahman Gök, an editor at Mezopotamya News Agency (MA), charged with “membership in an organization” and “spreading organizational propaganda” over his journalistic work, will continue at the Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court. Gök, who was arrested in April 2023 and released in December 2023, faces up to 20 years in prison.

10:35 a.m. – The trial of BirGün reporter İsmail Arı, charged with “slander” and “insult” following a complaint by Levent Uysal, a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) lawmaker and founder of the Nişantaşı Education Foundation, will continue at the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. The case was filed over three reports Arı published in BirGün in 2024 and his remarks on a television program.

10:55 a.m. – The sixth hearing in the trial of journalist Nurcan Yalçın, charged with “membership in an organization” and “financing terrorism,” will be held at the Diyarbakır 9th High Criminal Court. In the case, in which her sending 400 Turkish lira to a prisoner is cited as evidence, the court ruled at the previous hearing in March to await the completion of deficiencies in the case file and lifted the travel ban imposed on Yalçın.

2:00 p.m. – The verdict hearing in the trial over the killing of journalist Hakan Tosun, who was beaten to death on the street in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district in October 2025, will be held at the Bakırköy 17th High Criminal Court. In his final opinion, the prosecutor requested that defendants Abdurrahman Murat and Adnan Şahin be convicted of “intentional killing” and that no reduction for unjust provocation be applied.

Wednesday, Sept. 23

12:25 p.m. – The trial of journalist Deniz Yücel, who is represented by MLSA, charged with “insulting a public official” over a column published in the German daily Die Welt, will continue at the Istanbul 17th Criminal Court of First Instance. Former Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu is the complainant in the case.

Thursday, Sept. 24

9:15 a.m. – The trial of lawyer Özüm Vurgun, a member of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), charged with “membership in an organization” on the basis of statements by a cooperating witness, will continue at the Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court. The prosecutor is expected to present the final opinion in the case, in which Vurgun is being prosecuted over her professional activities.

1:55 p.m. – The trial known as the “KCK Press Case,” in which 46 journalists and media workers, including journalist Dilek Demiral, who is represented by MLSA, and journalist Arzu Demir, are charged with “membership in an organization,” “leading an organization” and “spreading organizational propaganda,” will continue at the Istanbul 3rd High Criminal Court. The proceedings, which began with detentions in December 2011, have been under way for more than a decade.

2:00 p.m. – The first hearing in the trial of lawyer Sezin Uçar, who has been held in pretrial detention for five months on a charge of “membership in the MLKP,” will be held at the Istanbul 26th High Criminal Court. The three-page indictment is based on the statements of 13 people who benefited from “effective remorse” provisions. Mustafa Tezel, an identified witness named in the indictment, told the court in the trial of journalist Pınar Gayıp that he had not made the statements attributed to him and that he did not know Gayıp.