DİYARBAKIR - Stating that the indictment prepared against 16 journalists who have been detained in Amed for a year, consists of journalistic activities, lawyer Resul Temur said that the long detention process has turned into an arbitrary punishment.

 

As part of an investigation carried out by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, 22 people, 20 of whom were journalists, were detained in raids on houses and media outlets in many Amed-centered cities on 8 June 2022. JINNEWS Director Safiye Alagaş, Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DGF) Co-chairperson Serdar Altan, Mesopotamia Agency (MA) editor Aziz Oruç, Xwebûn Editor-in-Chief Mehmet Ali Ertaş, journalists Zeynel Abidin Bulut, Ömer Çelik, Mazlum Doğan Güler, İbrahim Koyuncu, Neşe Toprak, Elif Üngür, Abdurrahman Öncü, Suat Doğuhan, Remziye Temel, Ramazan Geciken, Lezgin Akdeniz and Mehmet Şahin were arrested 8 days later by the court. After 10 months, an indictment was prepared against 18 journalists, 2 of whom were not detained, demanding 7 years, 6 months to 15 years in prison for "being a member of a terrorist organization". The first hearing of the journalists will be held on July 11 at the Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court.

 

CLAIM FROM PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

 

Evaluating the one-year detention process and the case, Resul Temur, the lawyers of the journalists said: "We repeatedly stated that the journalists were detained due to their professional activities during the detention process. The indictment consists of the professional activities of journalists and the evidence allegedly obtained during a 30-day search in workplaces where no one is allowed to enter. It is claimed that during these searches, the companies in question reached overseas servers, and that some correspondence belonging to Medya TV and Sterk TV were obtained from these servers. We don't know if such a correspondence really exists or not. When the operation is carried out under normal conditions, digital material is taken, sent to cybercrime, and its examination is done through that digital material; however, it is claimed that the servers of other computers were accessed directly on computers in a hacker-like manner and information was extracted from there."

 

SECRET WITNESS

 

Drawing attention to the fact that the inclusion of the secret witness, who did not exist before the operation, in the file during the investigation is a separate issue, Temur said: "This situation is 'producing evidence'. Actually, since there is no evidence in the file that requires the detention or arrest of journalists, it shows that they tried to carry out the case with some evidence that was created later on the arrest and even the continuation of the detention, and it shows that such an irregularity and unlawfulness is involved."

 

Temur added that the long detention process of journalists has turned to arbitrary and open punishment in the file, where the possibility of acquittal is very high.

 

MA / Müjdat Can