• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Friday, June 2, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

Turkish Court Rejects Releasing Journalists In Media Trial

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
02/08/18
in Featured, Media Freedom, Middle East
Turkish Court Rejects Releasing Journalists In Media Trial
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

An Istanbul court refused to release 17 journalists, including novelist Ahmet Altan, his brother Mehmet Altan, Nazli Ilicak, despite demands of lawyers for the release of defendants tried in a major media trial over charges attempting to topple the government, helping coup plotters and “terrorist organization membership.”

After a week of defenses by the prominent and veteran journalists, the court delivered the decision on Friday, setting Sept. 19 as next hearing date, while Turkey’s judicial season enters a summer recess.

Altan brothers, Nazli Ilicak, former Zaman daily design editor Fevzi Yazici, Zaman advertisement director Yakup Simsek presented their defenses during the week.

Prominent novelist Ahmet Altan has offered the most stunning defense yet to date, disproves every charge in the indictment with a powerful argument. His pages-long defense read via video conference from prison went viral on social media, and widely shared on the internet as a textbook case of how a defense could be carried out by a defendant.

As Milena Buyum of Amnesty International said in her reaction to the decision at the courtroom, Ahmet Altan shredded the indictment into to pieces by parsing contradictions through point-by-point examination of the claims laid by the prosecutor.

Shameful decision based on a complete lack of evidence of alleged crimes in 247 pages of an indictment that #AhmetAltan shred to pieces! https://t.co/cY0gF3cEDK

— Milena Buyum (@MilenaBuyum) June 23, 2017

Speaking after defendants and their lawyers, Prosecutor Can Tuncay demanded from the court continuation of pre-trial detention of the journalists, using only one sentence.

After Altan brothers' stunning indictment of Turkey's justice system & those in power, court ruled to keep them locked up https://t.co/lt9sjscKjG

— Emma Sinclair-Webb (@esinclairwebb) June 23, 2017

He avoided engagement in a legal argument after Ahmet Altan’s deconstruction of the indictment as a “judicial porn” which he said does not deserve a serious defense.

Veysel Ok, a lawyer representing Ahmet Altan, denied charges as ludicrous and said his client is being tried over his independent and critical thoughts. He underlined that freedom of expression is guaranteed by Turkish constitutional law, and his comments, however critical they are, on Turkey’s political affairs do not constitute a crime according to the law.

Article 19, an international rights group that monitors freedom of expression across the world, presented an expert opinion on the case of the Altan brothers. Article 19 said it “considers that the charges form part of a politically-motivated campaign of harassment against journalists and other dissenting voices in Turkey following the failed coup against President Erdogan in July 2016.”

It points to a major problem in the indictment. So far, prosecutors only presented television comments, news articles and columns as “evidence” to show that they amount to use of force to topple a government.

“There is no possible causal link between the defendants’ news articles and the failed coup of July 2016,” Gabrielle Guillemin, Senior Legal Officer for ARTICLE 19, said regarding the trial. “That the defendants may be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment merely for publishing columns commenting on the political situation in Turkey is grossly disproportionate and would amount to a grave miscarriage of justice.”

Article 19 calls on the authorities to drop all charges against the accused in the absence of evidence of “involvement in an internationally recognized crime and to immediately and unconditionally release those held in pre-trial detention.”

********

This article was possible thanks to your donations. Please keep supporting us here.

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

Related Posts

Syrian rescuers and civilians search for victims and survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building, in the rebel-held northern countryside of Syria's Idlib province on the border with Turkey, early on February 6, 2023. Syrian rescuers (White Helmets) and civilians search for victims and survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building
World

Quake Kills Over 1,200 Across Turkey, Syria

by Staff Writer
February 6, 2023
Greek Immigration Minister Notis Mitarachi
Refugees

Greece Denies Turkey Claims Over Six Migrants Killed at Sea

by Staff Writer
September 14, 2022
anti femicide group
Democracy at Risk

Anti-Femicide Group Goes on Trial in Turkey, Faces Risk of Closure

by Staff Writer
June 1, 2022
The Club Netflix
Lifestyle

Netflix Series Helps Heal Wounds of Turkey’s Jews

by Staff Writer
March 19, 2022
AFP photographer arrested
Media Freedom

Turkish Reporters Demand Protection After Violent Arrest

by Staff Writer
June 29, 2021
Erdogan Threatens to Open Europe Gates for Refugees
Featured

Turkey’s Latest Crackdown Spells Dangerous New Normal for Human Rights Defenders

by Anders L. Pettersson
October 26, 2021
Next Post
Biker Kicks Car In Road Rage and All Hell Breaks Loose

Biker Kicks Car In Road Rage and All Hell Breaks Loose

How To Spot Fake News

How To Spot Fake News

Please login to join discussion

Recommended

Migrants waiting at the Turkish border.

Beyond Numbers: Confronting Europe’s Broken Border System

May 30, 2023
A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021

Militia Leader Gets 18 Years in Prison Over US Capitol Attack

May 26, 2023
Customers queue to enter a re-opened Zara clothes shop

EU Targets Fast Fashion in Push for Durable Goods

May 23, 2023
A billboard showing the debt limit is seen in Washington, D.C.

US Republicans Upbeat on Prospects for Debt Deal

May 19, 2023
Military hardware rolls through Dvortsovaya Square during a Victory Day military parade in central Saint Petersburg

Pressing Russia, US Shares Nuclear Warhead Data Under Treaty

May 16, 2023
A man holding a gun

The NRA’s Continuing Agenda of Fear

May 12, 2023

Opinion

Migrants waiting at the Turkish border.

Beyond Numbers: Confronting Europe’s Broken Border System

May 30, 2023
A man holding a gun

The NRA’s Continuing Agenda of Fear

May 12, 2023
US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

A Supreme Folly 

April 24, 2023
Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 26, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post