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Defendants: Ziya Ataman, +18 others

Media Outlet and Position: Özgür Gündem & DİHA – Distributor, Reporter

Status: Imprisoned

Facility: Van M-type High-Security Prison

Accusations: Participating in an operation of a terrorist organization

Possible sentence: Various up to life sentence

Court: Şırnak 1. High Criminal Court

Case background:

Ziya Ataman, a reporter for Dicle News Agency (DİHA), was arrested on April 11, 2016, on accusations of “participating in an operation of a terrorist organization”. Police detained Ataman after he participated in a protest in the city of Van, in eastern Turkey.

Ataman, who had worked as a distributor for the shuttered Özgür Gündem newspaper, started working as an intern reporter at the now-closed DİHA and was there for only 7 months.

The indictment was prepared in December 2017, almost 20 months after Ataman was first detained. A witness statement claiming that Ataman participated in one of the outlawed PKK attacks in the city was used for the indictment against him. The witness, who is also a relative of Ataman, later filed an official objection to his earlier statement, confessing that he signed the statement “under threat and torture”. But officials have ignored the objection, taking only the initial statement into account.

Ataman appeared in court for the first time on March 2, 2018, marking almost two years in pretrial detention. During the second hearing, the journalist was not able to give his defense due to technical problems to connect to the court from his cell by SEGBIS – Turkey’s judicial video-conferencing system. The court at that time rejected his request for release and ordered another hearing on August 7, 2018.

During the hearing on August 7, Ataman attended the hearing again via video-conferencing system SEGBİS from his cell. Ataman’s lawyers asked whether there was any investigation into the witness’ claim that the statement was taken under threat and torture or not. The prosecutor said that there was no investigation filed for the claim, and requested for the continuation of pretrial detention of the journalist.

During the fifth hearing on January 17, 2019, Ataman attended the hearing via judicial video-conference system (SEGBİS) from Van M-type closed prison where he is currently being held. One of the witnesses, who is also imprisoned in relation to another case, said that the witness statement he signed was under influence and retracted.

During March 26-hearing, Ataman attended the court once again by SEGBİS from his prison cell. Ataman reportedly went on a hunger strike in prison on March 1 requesting to give his defense in Kurdish. The court asked Ataman to have a translator ready for the next hearing, adjourned the hearing till May 28. The prosecutor was expected to give his final opinion on May 28.

During the next hearing on July 4, Ataman was again not physically brought to the court. He could not submit his defense in Kurdish due to the absence of a translator. The prosecutor requested  varying sentencing including the lifetime. The court rejected all requests by the defendant’s lawyer and decided to continue his detention. The next hearing was adjourned until September 24, 2019.