
Demand to 'punish news' in journalists' trial

2023-02-24 16:32:28


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	ANKARA - Stating that they tried to create a perception with the news selected with the indictment prepared against MA and JINNEWS reporters, Lawyer Resul Temur said: "The professional activities of journalists were tried to be manipulated."

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	The first hearing of the case brought against Mezopotamya Agency (MA) Editor-in-Chief Diren Yurtsever, correspondents Berivan Altan, Ceylan Şahinli, Deniz Nazlım, Selman Güzelyüz, Emrullah Acar, JINNEWS reporters Habibe Eren and Öznür Değer, MA reporter Zemo Ağgöz who was on trial pending trial and Mehmet Günhan, who worked as an intern in the Ankara office of MA for a while, who were detained by Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Zafer Ergün, will be held on May 16.

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	The majority of the 210-page indictment, which was completed three and a half months later, was devoted to the history of the PKK and the KCK, including 149 news stories published in the MA, the prosecution statements of journalists, "witnesses" added outside the file. Ankara 4th High Criminal Court accepted the indictment and rejected the request for release.

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	JOURNALIST WERE ARRESTED IN PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

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	His lawyer, Resul Temur, evaluated the indictment of the journalists, which was accepted by the court. Emphasizing that the indictment accepted by the court reveals that 9 journalists were arrested entirely within the scope of their professional activities, Temur said: "The fact that the indictment is built on the news of the Mesopotamia Agency shows that the aim is not legal, and that they are targeting the journalistic activity and the editorial preferences of the Kurdish press."

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	DEMANDING TO PUNISH NEWS STORIES OF MA

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	Stating that the prosecutor's office tried to create a perception by selecting some of MA's news, Temur said: "Other news of the agency were completely ignored. Demanding the punishment of news content that concerns Kurdish society and the Kurdish Question, even as claimed by the prosecutor's office, means targeting journalism that does not have a monopoly. It is understood that the prosecutor's office, which did not even try to establish a cause-effect relationship between the news in question and the journalists on trial, acted arbitrarily. None of the news stories in question are at the point where they can be directed against journalists as criminal charges. Failure to establish a causal link between the news and those on trial violates the principle of the individuality of crimes and punishments.

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