12/05/2025 | Writer: Oğulcan Özgenç
Yıldız Tar, who has been in detention since February 21 as part of the investigation against the HDK, has had his case declared outside the jurisdiction of the Istanbul 26th High Criminal Court; the separated case file will be sent to Ankara. The trial date will be set by the authorized court in Ankara.
On February 21, 2025, journalists Yıldız Tar and Elif Akgül were arrested as part of the investigation into the Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK). The indictments prepared against them have now been completed. The Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) had submitted a request to the court for both journalists to be released pending trial.
In their petitions submitted to the courts, MLSA’s Legal Unit stated that the continued detention of the journalists was unlawful and requested their release along with the issuance of the preliminary proceedings report.
In the case file where Yıldız Tar is currently detained, the court ruled that it lacks jurisdiction over Tar and two other individuals, and rejected the release request together with the preliminary report.
Kaos GL Association’s Human Rights Program Coordinator, lawyer Kerem Dikmen, spoke to KaosGL.org about the process.
Dikmen noted that in the case file where Yıldız Tar is detained, all but one of the individuals, Ercüment Akdeniz, were taken into custody outside of Istanbul. He said:
“An indictment was issued and submitted to the 26th High Criminal Court. The court stated that Yıldız was detained in Ankara, and therefore the competent court is the Ankara High Criminal Court. As a result, the files of Yıldız and the others detained outside Istanbul were separated and sent to the relevant courts. The court also ruled for the continued detention of Yıldız Tar and the other detainees included in the case. The Istanbul 26th High Criminal Court decided to send the file concerning Yıldız Tar to Ankara. Once the court’s decision on lack of jurisdiction is finalized, the file will be forwarded to the Ankara Duty High Criminal Court."
Lawyer Dikmen added:
“The court in Ankara will recreate the document known as the preliminary proceedings report. While doing this, it will decide whether the detention should continue and also set a date for the hearing. Yıldız’s trial date will be determined once the case file reaches the competent court in Ankara.”
Tags: human rights, media
