Defendants: Erol Önderoğlu, Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Ahmet Nesin

Media Outlets and Positions: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) representative, journalists and rights defenders

Accusations: Terrorist propaganda; Publicly abetting crime; Praising a crime and the criminal

Possible sentence: Various jail terms from two years to 14 years and six months

Court: İstanbul 13. High Criminal Court

Case Background

Erol Önderğlu, Şebnem Korur Fincancı, and Ahmet Nesin have been accused of “creating terrorist propaganda” after acting as editor-in-chief for a day as part of a solidarity campaign for the now-closed pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem.

Erol Önderoğlu, Turkey representative of Reporters Without Borders; Şebnem Korur Fincancı, the head of the Turkey Human Rights Foundation (TİVH); and Ahmet Nesin, a writer and journalist, were all jailed on June 20, 2016 following a court ruling. Önderoğlu and Fincancı were released on June 30, 2016 after 10 days in pre-trial detention, while Nesin was released on July 1, 2016.

The journalists face sentences ranging from two years to 14 years and six months. Their seventh hearing was on October 9, 2018, during which the court decided to wait for the implementation of an arrest warrant for Nesin, who is not in the country.  The court is also waiting for an expert translation of certain documents from French into Turkish.

Their next and eighth hearing is set for January 28, 2019.