The 15th High Criminal Court in Istanbul's Çağlayan district ruled to release daily Vatan reporter Çağdaş Ulus and Cihat Ablay, an employee of the Fırat Distribution Company, through a unanimous vote in the ongoing Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) trial on Thursday, reducing the total number of journalists arrested in the probe down to 34.
A total of 44 suspects are currently standing trial in the KCK press case.
The court issued its verdict in light of the probability that the classification of the offense in question could change, according to reports.
The next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 12.
The names of the other journalists who are currently under arrest within the scope of the ongoing KCK case go as follows:
Oktay Candemir, Fatma Koçak, Kenan Kırkaya, Çağdaş Kaplan, Ertuş Bozkurt, Sadık Topoloğlu, Semiha Alankuş, Nilgün Yıldız, Mazlum Özdemir, Pervin Yerlikaya, Ramazan Pekgöz, Zuhal Tekiner, Ömer Çelik from the Dicle news agency (DİHA;) Turabi Kişin, Hüseyin Deniz, Dilek Demiral, Nevin Erdenur, Nurettin Fırat, Ayşe Oymaz, Yüksel Genç, Sibel Güler, Ziya Çiçekçi, Davut Uçar from the Özgür Gündem; Selahattin Aslan, Saffet Orman, Nahide Ermiş, Ömer Çiftçi from the Demokratik Modernite; M. Emin Yıldırım from the Kurdish daily Azadiya Welat; Çiğdem Aslan, Haydar Tekin, Şeyhmus Fidan, İrfan Bilgi from the Fırat Distribution Company; İsmail Yıldız from the Kurdish news agency ANF and Zeynep Kuray from the daily BirGün.
Terkoğlu and Pehlivan released in OdaTV trial
Meanwhile, the 16th Istanbul High Criminal Court in Çağlayan also decided to release journalists Barış Terkoğlu and Barış Pehlivan in the OdaTV trial on Friday despite the prosecutor's request to keep them in jail.
The court ruled to continue the arrests of Yalçın Küçük, Soner Yalçın and former police chief Hanefi Avcı, however.
Some 13 suspects are standing trial in the OdaTV case, five of them arrested pending trial.
Prosecutor Adnan Çimen argued that the expert report that had arrived from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) bore self-contradictory statements and thus demanded the continued arrest of the suspects until the arrival of a new report.
The court decided to release the two suspects pending trial in view of the length of time they had already spent behind bars, however, and requested a new report from TÜBİTAK within 20 days.
The court then adjourned the trial for Nov. 16.
Journalists Nedim Şener, Ahmet Şık, Doğan Yurdakul and Müyesser Yıldız, who are standing trial without arrest, as well as Sait Çakır, İklim Ayfer Kaleli, Ahmet Mümtaz İdil and Coşkun Musluk also attended Friday's hearing.
Journalists rally for their colleagues
A group of journalists including Şener, Şık, Yurdakul and Yıldız also gathered before the courthouse prior to the hearing to protest the continued imprisonment of their colleagues.
Opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) deputies Bülent Tezcan, Oktay Ekşi, Haluk Eyidoğan and Celal Dinçer, as well as journalists Ahmet Hakan, Uğur Dündar, Orhan Bursalı, Ayşenur Arslan and artists Orhan Alkaya and Tarık Akan were also present in the protest meeting.
"An act of central planning"
"It was not Prosecutor Cihan Kansız but the police who penned this indictment. We have committed no offense. We are only defending this republic, and that is why you [have arrested us,] but we are satisfied nonetheless," suspect Yalçın Küçük said in the trial.
"The authors of TÜBİTAK's [expert] report will fall into shame. The report is of such quality that it would embarrass the court delegation, too. Were you aware that such a report was in the works when you decided to release Ms. Müyesser [Yıldız?]" he asked.
"I stood trial in Mamak, Silivri and the DGM (now-defunct State Security Courts.) Thank goodness, I have served time in all prisons. I hereby exonerate you. I believe the decision to arrest a particular person at a particular time will be an act of central planning, while you think you will be the ones to call the shots," Küçük added.
Barış Pehlivan then took the floor and stressed the fact that he had remained in isolation for hundreds of days as his arrest entered its 20th month. "I am no terrorist; I am a journalist. It is journalism that is standing trial in this case," he said.
"You said that there was still a strong suspicion of criminal offense in view of TÜBİTAK's report, but I will prove to you the existence of a strong suspicion of [innocence.] The report states that the files were downloaded onto the computers through malicious software. We had said it for a reason that those who took us under custody knew what would come out of our computers. The people who downloaded those files via malicious software also engaged in social engineering attacks against the three computers," Pehlivan said.
Suspect Avcı also spoke about the fabrication of digital evidence and claimed the police was already aware from the beginning that the e-mails in question were infected with viruses.
"I once more call upon you to review this indictment. Is this the place to try all these news reports and writings? Does it suit the gravity of the position of a judge to ask how someone wrote this [piece] or sent that e-mail?" Does this befit the seriousness of the duties of these courts?" journalist Barış Terkoğlu then said.
"Your honor; I expect no special favors. I demand my right. Explain to me why you have kept me under arrest for two years. Write down why you are going to keep me in prison after this. Tell me what crime I have committed. Do not hold back to explain which part of this report that you had been waiting for seven months provides the reason [for my arrest.] Let us not drag this game any further. Hand down your decree," he added. (AS/EKN)
