Defendants: Bülent Şık

Media Outlet and Position: Cumhuriyet, Bianet – Columnist, academician

Accusations: Maintaining and revealing classified information

Possible sentence: 5 up to 12 years

Court: İstanbul 2. Civil Court

Case background:

A new criminal investigation was launched on January 2, 2019, against the food engineer and columnist for several news sites, Bülent Şık, based on an official complaint by the Ministry of Health in relation to an article series published in Cumhuriyet newspaper.

Following an article series titled “State hides the list of products poisoning public, but we are revealing them!” published on April 15, 2018, Ministry of Health took action to file a suit against the columnist. The prosecutor requested Şık’s imprisonment from five to 12 years on the charges of “maintaining and revealing classified information”.

Two weeks later on January 18, another investigation was reportedly opened against Şık, this time on the charges of “making terrorist propaganda” over his posts on social media.

The first hearing in the case filed on the basis of the complaint by the Ministry of Health took place on February 2, 2019. Şık gave his first defense statement during the hearing, underlining that the reports subject to this case were the results of a long research project under the Ministry of Health started in 2014-2015. As one of the researchers in the project, Şık told that he had been forced to resign after signing a petition called  “Academics for Peace” in which hundreds of academics urged authorities to stop military violence in Turkey’s southeast. He said: “These reports’ findings are a first in many ways, therefore I felt the responsibility to publish them because it is a matter of public interest.”

During the hearing on May 30, the court rejected Şık’s lawyers’ request for acquittal and adjourned the next hearing until September 26, giving additional time for defense statements.