08/01/2025 | Writer: Kaos GL
Journalists Deniz Nazlım, Sibel Yükler and KaosGL.org Editor-in-Chief Yıldız Tar, who were detained during a press statement organised in Ankara for journalists arrested in Diyarbakır, are acquitted.
The fourth hearing of the lawsuit filed against journalists Deniz Nazlım, Sibel Yükler and KaosGL.org Editor-in-Chief Yıldız Tar, who were detained in Ankara during a press statement on the arrest of journalists in Diyarbakır, was held today at Ankara 71st Criminal Court of First Instance.
Nazlım and Yükler did not attend the hearing, while Tar did. Muhammed Ünsal, lawyer from MLSA Legal Unit, Gulan Çağın Kaleli, lawyer from the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) and journalist Hüseyin Aykol, one of the witnesses of the case, also attended the hearing.
The hearing started half an hour late and firstly the prosecutor presented his final opinion. The prosecutor demanded sentence for the journalists who were beaten and detained in handcuffs while they wanted to attend a press statement in Ankara on 5 July 2022 for 16 journalists who were arrested in Diyarbakır at the time, for ‘violating the Law No. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations’.
In his final opinion, the prosecutor claimed that the demonstration called by Dicle Fırat Journalists‘ Association (DFG), Mesopotamia Women Journalists’ Platform (MKGF) and DİSK Basın-İş was ‘illegal’ and that the journalists were detained before the press statement had even started and that they did not obey the warning to ‘disperse’.
‘Our clients were detained even before they reached the venue’
Yıldız Tar, in her defence on the merits, said : ‘I do not agree with the opinion. I demand my acquittal ’. Lawyer Ünsal then summarised their defence, which they had also submitted in writing, as follows
"We don't understand how the prosecutor's office has defined “failure to disperse”. When the crime scene footage and the expert report are analysed, it is seen that there was no such warning. In addition, there is no requirement to obtain permission for meetings and demonstrations within the scope of constitutional jurisprudence. Our clients were detained before they even went to the area, before they even started to gather."
In his defence on the merits, Lawyer Ünsal referred to the Constitutional Court's (AYM) decisions and said, "The obligation to notify alone does not make a press statement illegal. There is no banning decision taken by the governorate.’
Journalists were charged with torture and ill-treatment after filing a criminal complaint
Lawyer Kaleli said, "The law imposes the notification requirement to ensure the safety of the protesters, not to prevent freedom of expression and association. It is clear that our clients were subjected to violence. A false police report was filed. The current trial is itself a counter-trial. This case was filed immediately after our clients filed a criminal complaint for torture and ill-treatment.’
The judge acquitted the three journalists on the grounds that the elements of a criminal offence had not been established.
Tags: human rights, media
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