On trial for writing news
On trial for writing news
The first hearing of the trial against members of the Kurdish press will take place at Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court on 10 September. It seems the trial will head towards dangerous waters as journalists are being tried on the basis of the news they wrote or reported.
44 journalists have been tried since December 2011 in the context of the so called Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) operation. 36 among them have been remanded in custody despite the lack of any confirmed criminal evidence. Journalists are standing trial for alleged “membership and leadership of an illegal organization”. Their news on environment, labor, politics, women, life, culture, art and daily developments were defined as criminal evidences in the indictment which was prepared by Public Prosecutor Bilal Bayraktar and accepted by Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court on 11 May.
In the 800 paged indictment, 32 journalists are accused of leadership and 12 others of membership of an illegal organization. Accusations were grounded on the statements of four secret witnesses and six informants, while it is attention grabbing that a secret witness, “Batuhan Yýldýz”, gave his testimony against journalists thirteen days after their arrest. The indictment contains over 300 pages of news by the journalists and around 100 pages of “PKK-KCK history and Press Activities”. Most of the Kurdish press organs, such as Fýrat News Agency, Dicle News Agency, Özgür Gündem paper, Roj Tv,Nuçe Tv, Azadiya Welat paper, are defined as “press organs of the PKK(Kurdistan Workers’ Party)”.
The journalists’ interviews, reports and phone conversations are put forward as criminal evidences of membership and leadership of an illegal organization. The news published on Fýrat News Agency (ANF) are presented as evidences of Kurdish press’ link to the PKK. It is also claimed that Roj Tv broadcasts on deaths in conflicts aim to provoke the people.
The indictment also argues that the interview with BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaþ, news on BDP panel discussions and Öcalan’s meeting notes are to be considered as Kurdish press’ link to the “terror organization”, referring to the PKK.
The indictment is commented as a legal scandal by lawyers among whom Sinan Zincir points out that it is a government-ruled conspiracy document in question, not an indictment. “Truths wouldn’t have been exposed without these free press members who have paid big prices for their profession for 20 years”, says lawyer Zincir and evaluates the indictment as an evidence of the mentality which holds a grudge against laborers of the Kurdish press.
Zincir, underlining that the journalists’ indictment violates universal norms of Contemporary Penal Law, Turkish Penal Code and even the Anti-Terror Law, notes that; “This is the practice of a hostile law, not a trial.”
According to the Platform for Freedom for Jailed Journalists, 97 journalists, including 19 publishers, are currently jailed in Turkish prisons and the majority of the jailed press members are made up of Kurdish journalists. 180 journalists have been put in prison in the last three years and nearly 600 press members face legal actions filed against them.
44 journalists have been tried since December 2011 in the context of the so called Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) operation. 36 among them have been remanded in custody despite the lack of any confirmed criminal evidence. Journalists are standing trial for alleged “membership and leadership of an illegal organization”. Their news on environment, labor, politics, women, life, culture, art and daily developments were defined as criminal evidences in the indictment which was prepared by Public Prosecutor Bilal Bayraktar and accepted by Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court on 11 May.
In the 800 paged indictment, 32 journalists are accused of leadership and 12 others of membership of an illegal organization. Accusations were grounded on the statements of four secret witnesses and six informants, while it is attention grabbing that a secret witness, “Batuhan Yýldýz”, gave his testimony against journalists thirteen days after their arrest. The indictment contains over 300 pages of news by the journalists and around 100 pages of “PKK-KCK history and Press Activities”. Most of the Kurdish press organs, such as Fýrat News Agency, Dicle News Agency, Özgür Gündem paper, Roj Tv,Nuçe Tv, Azadiya Welat paper, are defined as “press organs of the PKK(Kurdistan Workers’ Party)”.
The journalists’ interviews, reports and phone conversations are put forward as criminal evidences of membership and leadership of an illegal organization. The news published on Fýrat News Agency (ANF) are presented as evidences of Kurdish press’ link to the PKK. It is also claimed that Roj Tv broadcasts on deaths in conflicts aim to provoke the people.
The indictment also argues that the interview with BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaþ, news on BDP panel discussions and Öcalan’s meeting notes are to be considered as Kurdish press’ link to the “terror organization”, referring to the PKK.
The indictment is commented as a legal scandal by lawyers among whom Sinan Zincir points out that it is a government-ruled conspiracy document in question, not an indictment. “Truths wouldn’t have been exposed without these free press members who have paid big prices for their profession for 20 years”, says lawyer Zincir and evaluates the indictment as an evidence of the mentality which holds a grudge against laborers of the Kurdish press.
Zincir, underlining that the journalists’ indictment violates universal norms of Contemporary Penal Law, Turkish Penal Code and even the Anti-Terror Law, notes that; “This is the practice of a hostile law, not a trial.”
According to the Platform for Freedom for Jailed Journalists, 97 journalists, including 19 publishers, are currently jailed in Turkish prisons and the majority of the jailed press members are made up of Kurdish journalists. 180 journalists have been put in prison in the last three years and nearly 600 press members face legal actions filed against them.
