A Muş court on 19 February ruled to keep in place an arrest warrant for İdris Sayılğan, a reporter who worked for the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), which was shut down by the Turkish government under a cabinet decree in later 2016, the socialist Evrensel reported.
The journalist has been in prison for 16 months. In his testimony, he said: "I am a journalist and I will defend the principles of this priceless profession until the very end."
The Muş 2nd High Criminal Court is hearing his case. The 19 February session was the second hearing in the case. There are four other people being tried along with Sayılğan, who testified in court via video-conferencing at the Trabzon High-Security Prison where he is being kept.
The journalist said the indictment included recordings of conversations between him and his sources and editor, adding that both the police and the prosecutor's office had noted that there was no element of crime in any of those voice recordings.
"This indictment accuses me of following the funerals of members of the organization [Kurdistan Workers' Party]. I am not a member of any organization, and my job is not only about covering funerals of members of the organization. I can report on any subject which I see as newsworthy; this is my fundamental right as a journalist," he said.
Sayılğan said he had reported frequently on statements from government officials, including speeches by the Ağrı Governor and meetings of former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. "And what organization do those stories make me a member of?" he asked.
He said: "I interviewed the family of Sefer Taş, who was kidnapped by ISIS in Iğdır. Does that make me a member of Sefer Taş's family? I have reported on nature and ecology and on snow in Muş and Ağrı. The indictment doesn't say which purpose these reports served. The fact that I am a critical journalist or that the government vilifies critical journalists doesn't make me the member of any organization."
His next hearing was adjourned until 23 May 2018. The court ruled to keep him and the other arrestees in prison.
