Defendants: Kazım Güleçyüz, İbrahim Özdabak

Media Outlet and Position:  Yeni Asya newspaper – Editor-in-chief and cartoonist

Accusations: Spreading terrorist propaganda

Possible sentence: –

Court: İstanbul 29. High Criminal Court

Case Background:

Kazım Güleçyüz, the editor-in-chief of Yeni Asya newspaper and cartoonist İbrahim Özdabak are being accused of spreading terrorist propaganda for their tweets and a cartoon, respectively. Güleçyüz authored tweets that questioned aspects of the failed coup of July 15, 2016, while Özdabak drew a cartoon that sympathized with a woman who suffered a miscarriage while in prison on charges of alleged connections to the reclusive cleric Fethullah Gülen.

Both Güleçyüz and Özdabak stood trial on May 2, 2019, after which the court adjourned the hearing until September 24, giving additional time for Public Prosecutor to submit his opinion.

During the most recent hearing on September 24, 2019, Güleçyüz told that his tweets were put out of context. The court accepted his lawyer’s request for additional time to prepare the defense statement. The next hearing will be held on January 23, 2020.