After 13 months behind bars without appearing in court, the journalists were freed pending trial on terrorism-related charges.
This statement was originally published on bianet.org on 12 July 2023.
After 13 months behind bars without appearing in court, Serdar Altan, Aziz Oruç, Mehmet Ali Ertaş, Zeynel Abidin Bulut, Ömer Çelik, Mazlum Güler, İbrahim Koyuncu, Neşe Toprak, Elif Üngür, Abdurrahman Öncü, Suat Doğuhan, Remziye Temel, Ramazan Geciken, Lezgin Akdeniz, and Mehmet Şahin were released today pending trial.
The 4th Heavy Penal Court in Diyarbakır released all imprisoned Kurdish journalists today (July 12) on the second day of the first hearing of the case against 18 Kurdish journalists.
Fifteen journalists were imprisoned for 13 months without appearing in court before this hearing that started yesterday.
After all 18 journalists defended themselves, most of them in Kurdish, starting yesterday and continuing today, the court has also heard the witnesses today, including the unanimous witnesses.
Subsequently the prosecutor gave an opinion and requested that all journalist should be kept in jail.
The lawyer of the journalists, Resul Temur, took the floor following this. He told the court that 30 Kurdish journalists have been arrested in Turkey in the last year. “This figure alone shows what a great judicial harassment the journalists are facing,” he said.
The court decided to release all arrested journalists.
What happened?
22 people were taken into custody on June 8, 2022 in Diyarbakır, 20 of whom were journalists.
Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) editor Aziz Oruç, JinNews News Director Safiye Alagaş, Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFGD) Co-Chairperson Serdar Altan, Xwebûn newspaper Editor-in-Chief Mehmet Ali Ertaş and journalists Ömer Çelik, Neşe Toprak, Mehmet Şahin, Zeynel Abidin Bulut, Elif Üngör, Remziye Temel, Suat Doğuhan, Lezgin Akdeniz, İbrahim Koyuncu, Abdurrahman Öncü, Ramazan Geciken and Mazlum Güler were kept in detention for one week and arrested on June 16, 2022.
Journalists Gülşen Koçuk, Kadir Bayram, Mehmet Yalçın, Esmer Tunç and Feynaz Koçuk and İhsan Ergünlü, who were detained with them, were released on condition of judicial control.
The files of JİNNEWS Manager Safiye Alağaş, editor Gülşen Koçuk, ex-journalist Feynaz Koçuk and İhsan Ergülen who appeared in street interviews, were separated on March 21.
A 383-page indictment was prepared against Alağaş, where she was charged with “being a member of an armed terrorist organization.”
Alagaş was released in the first hearing on June 15 after staying in prison for one year.
