Turkey: Court Announces Interim Decision, No Relief For Yasemin Çongar In Six-year-long Trial
Location: Turkey, Istanbul
Date: January 21, 2022Available in: 🇹🇷 Türkçe
The hearing of the fabricated terror-related case against former Taraf executive Yasemin Çongar and other journalists of the shuttered newspaper was adjourned for the 38th time. After hearing arguments presented by all defense lawyers, including Yasemin Çongar's, the court adjourned the next hearing until March 4, 2021. The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) denounces legal harassment of former shuttered Taraf newspaper executives and reporters, who have been on trial for over six years now. We demand Turkish authorities to finalize the case fairly and acquit the journalists. We reiterate that journalism is not a crime.
Taraf newspaper, known for its vociferous critique of the Turkish military’s overreaches in state affairs, was forced shut in 2016. Former executives of the newspaper, Yasemin Çongar and Ahmet Altan, and its reporters, Yıldıray Oğur and Mehmet Baransu, were tried on charges of "obtaining, disclosing and destroying information about the security of the state". The allegations against them were based on a report published regarding a secret document called "Sovereign Operation Plan" which belonged to the General Staff. The 38th hearing of the case was held today at the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court and was adjourned after all the defendants’ statements.
Yasemin Çongar's lawyer, Figen Albuga Çalıkuşu, and all other defendants' lawyers represented the former executives and reporters at the court. Figen defended both Yasemin and Ahmet at court and stated that there were no links to her clients about the secret document alleged to be reported at the newspaper. The lawyer said, “The legal duty and responsibility for a prosecutor is to request defendants’ acquittal. Prosecutors have no duty to construct imaginary scenarios. They have to prove the criminal relationship with the evidence”.
At a previous hearing, on June 2, 2021, the prosecutor had sought a prison sentence of five to 10 years for the journalists on the charge of "disclosure of information regarding the security and political interests of the state". If convicted, Yasemin may be sent behind bars for up to 10 years.
Figen also reminded the court about the decision of the Constitutional Court again. She said the Constitutional Court and the Ministry of Justice had decided that no news has been published about the Sovereign Operation Plan by Taraf Newspaper. After pointing to the decision, Figen drew attention to her clients. She said that Yasemin and Ahmet are on trial solely for doing their job. She asked the court for the contradiction of the prosecutor's claims and the facts. “How can a plan be stolen in 2010 and if it has been destroyed in 2008? They [Ahmet and Yasemin] are asked to be charged for a crime that has not been reflecting the truth with an unknown source, and also there is no evidence that was published in the newspaper. It would be a legal scandal for the court to accept the prosecutor's opinion,” she said. Figen requested her clients’ acquittal from the court. All other defendants’ lawyers stated their defendants to the court and asked the same request as Figen did.
In an interim order, the İstanbul court decided to continue Mehmet Baransu’s detention and adjourned the next hearing to March 4, 2022. In the previous hearing in November 2021, the court denied the lawyers' request to excuse Baransu from appearing before the court. The defense team had made this request citing that the court had lost its impartiality in the six years that the trial has continued. They argued that the journalists were not being given a fair trial.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism demands that the charges prompted by Yasemin Çongar and other defendants’ robust journalism be dropped immediately. Yasemin and other journalists are on trial solely for doing their job and should be acquitted from the baseless charges they faced. Prolong trials are used as a tactic to silence and intimidate journalists and such blatant legal harassment casts a dark shadow on the country’s claims to be a democratic republic. We reiterate that journalism is not a crime.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism closely monitors the incidents in Turkey with great concern. Since March 8, Women's Day, police violence against women journalists increasingly continues in the country. As the coalition, we urge the Turkish state to provide a free environment for journalists. Following the news is our most fundamental democratic right to report. We demand the immediate release of our detained colleagues. Journalism is not a crime. Journalism cannot be prevented.
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