First court ruling in Özgür Gündem case: 15 months jail sentence

Human rights defender Şanar Yurdatapan was sentenced to 15 months in jail and a fine of 6,000 TL in the Özgür Gündem case against participants of the newspaper’s Editors-in-Chief on Watch campaign.

The trial of Şanar Yurdatapan, a human rights defender prosecuted for participation in the closed Özgür Gündem daily's Editors-in-Chief on Watch campaign to show solidarity with the newspaper, has continued today.

İstanbul 22nd Heavy Penal Court issued a jail sentence and fine for Yurdatapan, who has been accused of ‘propagating for a terrorist organization’ and ‘publishing organizational content.’ Yurdatapan received a fine of 6,000 TL for ‘publishing organizational content’ and a jail sentence of 15 months for ‘spreading terrorist propaganda'. The court deferred its sentence.

In the defense he made on December 22, human rights defender and musician Şanar Yurdatapan had said "Making the news is both a duty and a right of any journalist. It is also our right and freedom to receive the news."

In the meantime, the file of Özgür Gündem Editor In Chief İnan Kızılkaya, who remains in jail, was separated from the case during today's hearing.