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Barış Pehlivan
November 9, 2023
Media outlet: Cumhuriyet (Columnist)
Accusations: Openly insulting a public official because of his duty
Case background:
Due to his coverage of the funeral of an MIT (Turkish National Intelligence Organization) officer in Libya, Pehlivan was arrested on March 6, 2020 and taken to court, alongside journalists Aydın Keser, Barış Terkoğlu, Eren Ekinci, Hülya Kılınç, Ferhat Çelik and Murat Ağırel, and was sentenced to 3 years and 9 months in prison on charges of exposing classified intelligence documents. On May 12, 2020, Turkish authorities postponed the sentences of thousands of inmates due to Covid-19, but a last-minute clause excluded primarily the charges that journalists face, keeping all journalists, including Pehlivan, in prison. After spending 6 months behind bars, journalist Barış Pehlivan was released on September 9, 2020 on parole on the condition that he not be subject to another court case. On August 2, 2023, journalist Barış Pehlivan was informed via an SMS from the Ministry of Justice that he was expected to turn himself over to the Marmara Low Security Correctional Institution (formerly Silivri) between August 1-15, 2023 as his probation was revoked with a new lawsuit. Pehlivan has already been incarcerated four times due to his journalism, two of those being one day behind bars in February and May 2023 for the same sentence. This order would mark his fifth time behind bars. The decision was not overturned by the court and Pehlivan entered Silivri Prison on August 15, 2023. IPI and other international media groups published a statement for Pehlivan: https://freeturkeyjournalists.ipi.media/turkey-international-groups-condemn-fifth-imprisonment-order-against-journalist-baris-pehlivan/