Defendants: İhsan Yaşar, İshak Yasul, Mehmet Ali Çelebi, Reyhan Hacıoğlu, Hicran Urun, Pınar Tarlak, Ramazan Sola, Davut Uçar, Ersin Çaksu, Fırat Benli, Günay Aksoy, Mizgin Fendik, Önder Elaldı, Yılmaz Yıldız

Media Outlet and Position: Özgürlükçü Demokrasi Newspaper – Executives, editors and journalists

Status: Imprisoned (names in bold)

Facility: –

Accusations: Membership of a terrorist organization; Terrorist propaganda; Publishing and distributing terrorist organization’s material

Possible sentences: –

Court: İstanbul 23. High Criminal Court

Case Background: 

The buildings of Pro-Kurdish Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspaper and the printing press Gün Matbaa in Istanbul were raided by police on March 28, 2018. A government trustee was appointed on the same day only until it was shut down by a decree law (No.701) in June.

The newspaper’s publisher İhsan Yaşar was arrested on March 28, following the police raid on the daily’s offices ordered by the chief public prosecutor’s office. It was followed by the arrest of İshak Yasul, the managing editor of Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspaper on March 30.

On April 4, 2018, seven more editors and reporters of the newspaper were taken into custody in relation to the same case. While three of them were released on bail, editors Mehmet Ali Çelebi, Reyhan Hacıoğlu, Hicran Urun and reporter Pınar Tarlak were put in pretrial detention.

Newspaper staff was brought to court in Çağlayan Courthouse, Istanbul on April 10, after seven days in detention.

Pınar Tarlak was released, pending trial after the hearing on September 12.

At least 20 printing press workers for Gün Matbaa were arrested on the same day of the raid along with the owner of printing press Gün Matbaa, Kazım Zengin. Workers remain in jail since March 28.

Accusations against the newspaper’s executives and journalists include “aiding and abetting a terrorist organization”, “membership of a terrorist organization” and “making terrorist propaganda”. The case file includes as criminal evidence news articles on Turkey’s military operation in Afrin and words used in those articles such as “resistance”, “occupation”, “massacre”, “martyr”, “Kurdistan”, “vicious attack”.

Next hearing is set for December 6.

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