Journalist Ayşegül Doğan sentenced to 6 years, 3 months in prison

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Facing a lawsuit on charge of "founding and leading an armed organization", journalist Ayşegül Doğan had her final hearing at the Diyarbakır 9th Heavy Penal Court today (December 7).

Handing down its judgement, the court has ruled that Doğan shall be sentenced to 6 years, 3 months in prison on the grounds of her meetings with the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) executives as well as the interviews she made and the events she attended.

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Put on trial over her journalistic activities, Doğan was the Program Coordinator of the İMC TV, which was closed by a Statutory Decree.

'Date of crime: 2018, date of evidence: 2010-2013'

Doğan's attorneys Ahmet Özmen, Emin Aktar and Emel Ataktürk made defense at today's hearing and mentioned the distortions in the indictment. According to the attorneys, while the date of the crime was indicated as May 23, 2018 in the indictment, the dates of the wiretapped phone calls and technical surveillance cited as criminal evidence against the journalist were between the years of 2010 and 2013. They further stressed that there was not a single evidence at or after the date of the offense charged.

Indicating that all pieces of evidence brought against their client had been collected in an unlawful manner, the attorneys of the journalist said that the related evidence did not prove the alleged crime of organization membership and requested the acquittal of Ayşegül Doğan.

In her defense, attorney Emel Ataktürk also said, "As for Doğan's permanent council membership of the DTK, it is understood that she did not attend its activities in fact, she was made a member in her absence and was removed from membership, again in her absence. Ayşegül Doğan talks about this issue in the wiretapped [calls] in another file and says that they should remove her [from membership]. When all grounds in the file are taken into consideration, the evidence shows that our client is not a permanent council member of the DTK, not that she is a permanent member. On the other side, she attended all DTK meetings as a journalist."

Pronouncing its judgement after the recess, the court board has ruled that Ayşegül Doğan shall be sentenced to 6 years, 3 months in prison on charge of "organization membership." It has also ruled that the judicial control measures previously imposed on the journalist shall remain in force until the verdict of the local court becomes final.

'It should have ended in acquittal'

Attorney Ataktürk has spoken to T24 news website following the hearing. Ataktürk has briefly stated the following:

"Ayşegül Doğan has been penalized with her journalistic activities being criminalized. What is cited as evidence is the illegal wiretapping from the time of Gülen community. The judges and prosecutors of the time were put on trial anyway. A [prison] sentence has been given in a file which should have ended in acquittal. We will appeal against it. We believe that we will get positive results in the upcoming judicial process."

(HA/SD)