15 Months in Prison for Özgür Gündem Editor-in-Chief on Watch Uyurkulak

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Of the closed Özgür Gündem newspaper’s Editors-in-Chief on Watch, writer Murat Uyurkulak has been sentenced to 15 months in prison by İstanbul 22nd Heavy Penal Court on charge of “terror propaganda” under the Article 7/2 titled “propaganda”.

Attorney Hürrem Sönmez representing Uyurkulak said, “Here, the solidarity with Özgür Gündem is tried”.

“My client is a man of letters. Advocating freedom of expression is a basic life-act for my client. The other people who are tried here have a responsibility to public of defending this.

“Editorial policies of the newspapers can be discussed at the universities. It is not the courts but society to evaluate and judge newspapers’ editorial policies. I demand acquittal of my client”.

Emphasizing that the pieces, which have been subjected to the prosecution, are political analyze pieces, attorney Özcan Kılıç asked “Propaganda of which organization”.

Stating that there is no propaganda in the article, Kılıç demanded acquittal of Uyurkulak.

Ruling on the case, the court sentenced Uyurkulak to 15 months in prison on charge of “terror propaganda” under the Article 7/2 of Anti-Terror Act. The sentence has been suspended.

What happened?

Closed Özgür Gündem newspaper's Editor-in-Chief on Watch campaign was launched on May 3, 2016 and ended on August 7, 2016.
56 people joined the campaign.

50 of the attendees faced prosecution. Of the prosecuted, files of the 38 have been turned into cases.

50 investigations launched

50 people against whom lawsuit was filed are as follows:

Faruk Eren, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Ayşe Düzkan, Erol Önderoğlu, Celalettin Can, Mustafa Sönmez, Melda Onur, Fehim Işık, Celal Başlangıç, Eşber Yağmurdereli, Ragıp Duran, Nurcan Baysal, Ömer Ağın, Ahmet Abakay, İhsan Çaralan, Işın Eliçin, Murat Çelikkan, Uğur Karataş, Öncü Akgül, Ayşe Batumlu, Sebahat Tuncel, Saruhan Oluç, Nadire Mater, Beyza Üstün, Mehmet Güç, Tuğrul Eryılmaz, Faruk Balıkçı, Şeyhmus Diken, Necmiye Alpay, Jülide Kural, Yıldırım Türker, Ahmet Nesin, Kemal Can, Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Hasip Kaplan, Nevin Erdemir, Tuğrul Eryılmaz, Hakkı Boltan, Cengiz Baysoy, Kumru Başer, Veysi Altay, Hasan Hayri Şanlı, Hasan Cemal, Deniz Türkali, Dicle Anter, Çilem Küçükkeleş, Said Sefaoğlu, Aydın Engin, İhsan Eliaçık and İmam Canpolat.

38 cases

The 38 editors-in-chief on watch, who are charged with "terror organization propaganda" under Anti-Terror Act (TMK) Article 7/2 and "releasing or publishing terror organizations' statements or declarations" under Article 6, are as follows:

A. Kumru Başer, Ahmet Nesin, Ayşe Batumlu, Ayşe Düzkan, Beyza Üstün, Can Dündar, Celal Başlangıç, Celalettin Can, Cengiz Baysoy, Çilem Küçükkkeleş, Derya Okatan, Dicle Anter, Erol Önderoğlu, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Faruk Balıkçı, Faruk Eren, Fehim Işık, Hüseyin Tahmaz, Hakkı Boltan, Hasan Cemal, Hasan Hayri Şanlı, İbrahim Bodur, İhsan Çaralan, Julide Kural, M. Ali Çelebi, Murat Çelikkan, Murat Uyurkulak, Nadire Mater, Necmiye Alpay, Nevin Erdemir, Öncü Akgül, Ragıp Duran, Said Sefa, Şanar Yurdatapan, Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Tuğrul Eryılmaz, Veysi Altay, Yıldırım Türker.

Cases brought against 3 writers

Legal action was taken against Ömer Ağın for an article published under the editorship of Celal Başlangıç, against İmam Canpolat for an article published under the editorship of Cengiz Baysoy and against İlham Bakır for an article published under the editorship of Jülide Kural.

Of the 36 Editors-in-Chief on Watch, Erol Önderoğlu, Ahmet Nesin and Şebnem Korur Fincancı were arrested in June 2016 and released 10 days after it.

Convicted editors

Şanar Yurdatapan, İbrahim Bodur, Cengiz Baysoy ve Çilem Küçükkeleş were fined 1.500 euro under Article 6/2 of the Anti-Terror Law and were sentenced to 15 years in prison (deferred).

İmam Canpolat standing trial together with Baysoy was sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison.

Nadire Mater was sentenced to 15 months in prison (deferred) and fined 6,000 TL (1,500 Euros).

Yıldırım Türker was sentenced to 1 year, 10 months and 15 days in prison (deferred).

Hasan Cemal was fined 6,000 TL (1,500 Euros).

Kızılkaya cases

Özgür Gündem Managing Editor İnan Kızılkaya is a suspect in all 38 cases. Kızılkaya's case is being combined with the main trial.

(EA/TK)