Abdülkerim Balcı worked as an Ankara correspondent and a columnist for the Zaman Newspaper, which has been closed. For him, the prosecutor demanded a sentence of up to three times aggravated life imprisonment in the scope of the trial known as FETÖ Media Main Case. Yet, he was abroad when the investigation started about him.

Abdullah Kılıç was a columnist for the now-closed Meydan newspaper. He was detained on 25 July 2016 due to allegations that “he was affiliated with FETÖ media structure”. He was placed in custody 29 July 2016. The indictment charged Kılıç with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecutor demanded that Kılıç be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. He was released at the first hearing of the trial on 31 March 2017. He was detained again on the same day as part of a new investigation. The second indictment charged him with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order” and “attempting to destroy the government”. The prosecution demanded Kılıç to be sentenced to two aggravated life sentences. At the end of the trial process, Kılıç was sentenced to imprisonment of six years and three months on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The sentence was approved by the court of appeals and the Court of Cassation. He was released after having completed his sentence on 11 September 2020.

Abdulvahap Taş worked as a correspondent and an editor for Özgür Gündem newspaper and DİHA, which were shut down by statutory decrees. During the time he worked at DİHA, he was charged with “presenting individuals who served in counterterrorism as potential targets” over sharing a news report published in Özgür Gündem newspaper regarding the military operations in Diyarbakır’s Sur district on his social media account. The prosecution demanded Taş be sentenced to imprisonment of between one year and three years. He was acquitted at the end of the prosecution process, on 18 December 2019. The prosecutor’s office launched an appeal against the ruling at the court of appeals. The examination of the court of appeals concerning the ruling is underway.

Abdurrahman Gök is a correspondent for Mezopotamya News Agency. He was detained in Diyarbakır on 9 October 2018 as part of the “KCK investigation”. It was asserted that Gök “operated within the press and publishing committee coordinated under the KCK/TM entities”. Gök was released under judiciary supervision on 12 October 2018. The indictment concerning him was completed approximately two years after he was first detained. Gök was charged with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” and “consecutive terrorist organisation propaganda by means of the media”. The prosecution demanded that Gök be sentenced to imprisonment of between nine years and four months and 15 days and 28 years and one month and 15 days. The trial concerning Gök is currently underway without remand.

Ahmet Altan was the editor-in-chief of the Taraf Newspaper, which was shut down. He was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for his words on a tv broadcast before attempted military coup on July 15th and articles he wrote. His trial restarted after the decision was overruled by the Court of Cassation. He was sentenced to 10 years 6 months of improsonment. With the verdict he was released, however due to the objection of the prosecutors office, on November 13th, 2019, he was sent to jail once again. He has numerous lawsuits opened against him. He has been detained since September 23rd, 2016.

Mezopotamya News Agency reporter. He was taken into custody on 8 February 2018 for his social media postings. He was put on trial on the accusation of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization in a successive manner.” Prosecution demanded a prison sentence from 1 year 3 months upto 8 years 9 months. He was acquitted from all charges.

Ahmet Memiş was the news coordinator of the website called Haberdar. He was placed in custody on 23 July 2016 on allegations that “he was affiliated with FETÖ media structure”. Memiş was detained on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” on 25 July 2016. The indictment charged Memiş with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecutor demanded that Memiş be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. He was released at the first hearing of the trial on 31 March 2017. He was detained again due to the prosecutor’s objection on the same day. At the end of the trial process, Memiş was sentenced to imprisonment of seven years and six months on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The court of appeals approved the ruling. However, the Court of Cassation overturned the ruling. Following the overturning of the sentence, Memiş was released on 15 June 2020. He had been in prison for three years and 10 months when he was released. Memiş’s retrial then commenced.

An investigation against him got underway at June 10th, 2016, for the news published at Özgür Gündem at June 7th, 2016 when he undertook the editor-in-chief on duty position. He was arrested at June 20th, 2016. He was released at July 1st, 2016. His files were consolidated with the files of Şebnem Korur Fincancı and Erol Önderoğlu, who were arrested the same day. In the 11th hearing at July 17th, 2019 he was acquitted of all of the accusations. However the case taken to the appeal court due to the objection of the the prosecutor. The court of appeal overruled the acquittal verdict on October 20th, 2020, and thus the retrial began.

Started journalism in 1983. He served as key advisor of press of the former Prime Minister and President Abdullah Gül for 12 years. He is being tried for his book “İçimde Kalmasın/Tanıklığımdır” he wrote about his impressions of the term he worked. In total, he is requested to be sentenced to, from three months nine months 15 days to 11 years and one month of imprisonment for “insult” in three different cases opened by the complaints of President Tayyip Erdoğan, Chairperson of the Parliament Murat Şentop and Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank. He is released pending trial.

Ahmet Şık has been a journalist since 1991. He was arrested on the charges of “making propaganda for three seperate terrorist organizations.” His file was then consolidated with the Cumhuriyet Newspaper Case. He was jailed pending trial for 14 months. He was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months imprisonment. The verdict was approved by the Court of Appeal.The Court of Cassation demanded a reversal of the decision. However, it asked for Ahmet Şık’s prosecution with regards to the allegations of “legitimazing the actions of the organization” and “insulting the bodies of the state” other than “aiding an organization knowingly and voluntarily.” However the local court decided to persist against the Court of Cassation’s decision to overturn.

Ahmet Turan Alkan was a columnist for the Zaman Newspaper for 20 years. He was kept in jail for nearly 2 years in the scope of the operation against the Zaman Newspaper. Alkan was found guilty for “being a member of an armed terrorist organization” and was sentenced to 8 years and 9 months imprisonment. The Court of Appeal upheld the sentence.

Akın Atalay is a legal expert and lawyer. He was the Chairman of the Executive Board of Cumhuriyet Foundation. He was detained in the scope of the investigation against the Cumhuriyet Newspaper. He was recommended up to 43 years imprisonment. He was sentenced to 8 years 1 month 15 days of prison. The verdict was approved by the Court of Appeal. The Court of Cassation reversed the decision which had been approved by the Court of Appeal. However in the retrials, court decided to persist against the Court of Cassation’s decision to overturn.

Reporter at Cumhuriyet Daily. He is being tried with the accusation of “identifying officials on anti-terror duties as targets” for an article published at March 11th, 2016.

Ali Ahmet Böken was the coordinator of the TRT Haber channel. He was placed in custody on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” on 11 August 2016. He was detained with the same charge on 18 August 2016. The indictment asserted that “he had been affiliated with TRT structuring of FETÖ”. The prosecution demanded that Böken be sentenced to imprisonment of between seven years and six months and 15 years on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. At the end of the trial process, Böken was sentenced to imprisonment of nine years and nine months on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” on 3 April 2018. Böken launched an appeal against the ruling. He has been serving his prison sentence at Sincan Prison in Ankara since August 2016.

Ali Akkuş was the editor-in-chief of the now-closed Zaman newspaper. He was detained on allegations of “being affiliated with FETÖ Media Structure” on 27 July 2016. On 30 July 2016, he was remanded in custody on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The indictment charged Akkuş with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Akkuş be sentenced to imprisonment of up to 10 years. He was released at the first hearing of the trial on 31 March 2017. The same day, he was detained again without having left prison as part of a new investigation concerning him. He was released pending trial after 14 days of custody procedures. The second indictment charged him with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order” and “attempting to destroy the government”. The prosecution demanded that Akkuş be sentenced to an aggravated life sentence. In the final hearing of the trial on 8 March 2018, he was sentenced to imprisonment of seven years and six months on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. He was remanded once again by the court. Akkuş’s imprisonment sentence was also approved by the court of appeals. However, the Court of Cassation overturned the ruling. He was released again with the Court of Cassation’s ruling. The investigation concerning Akkuş has recommenced.

Ali Bulaç was a columnist for Zaman Newspaper which was then shut down. He was also a founding member of the newspaper. He was in prison for 22 months within the scope of Zaman Newspaper Main Trial. He was sentenced to 8 years, 9 months imprisonment for “being a member of an armed terrorist organization.” The Court of Appeal upheld the sentence.

He was a columnist for the Zaman Newspaper which was then shut down. Within the scope of the trial called as “FETÖ Media Main Case”, the prosecutor demanded a sentence of up to three times aggravated life imprisonment for Çolak. However, Çolak was abroad when the investigation against him started.

Ali Orhan was the executive editor of the now-closed Antalya Gazetesi. An investigation was launched concerning him over the complaint of the owner of another local newspaper published in Antalya. He was charged with “consecutively, knowingly and willingly aiding an armed terrorist organisation” by the indictment dated 24 October 2018. The prosecution demanded that Orhan be sentenced to imprisonment of between 10 years, two months and 15 days and 26 years and three months. The trial file concerning him was merged with the trial file in which eight journalists in Antalya were being tried at the second hearing of the trial held on 24 October 2019. The trial concerning Orhan is currently underway. Orhan is standing trial without remand.

Ali Sönmez Kayar is a reporter for the Etkin News Agency (ETHA). He was accused of “being a member of the urban guerilla structure of the MLKP [Marxist Leninist Communist Party]. After 8 and a half months in prison, he was released. His prosecution continues.

Ali Ünal was a columnist for Zaman Newspaper which was then shut down. The court sentenced Ünal to 19 years and 6 months imprisonment for “establishing and managing an armed terrorist organization.” The verdict was approved by the Court of Appeal and is now at the Court of Cassation. He has been imprisoned since Aug. 15, 2016.

Alican Uludağ has been working for the Cumhuriyet newspaper since 2008. He was sentenced to 10 months of prison due to one of his reports in the Cumhuriyet newspaper. He stands trial for a social media post concerning the visit Ankara’s Chief Public Prosecutor paid to the President after getting married, on the charge of “targeting state officials who served in the fight against terrorism”. He faces a prison sentence of 1 to 3 years. He continues to stand trial, without arrest. Also, he has been prosecuted for his reporting on how Pastor Brunson’s release was based on diplomatic and political reasons, not legal ones. Uludağ is facing up to two years in prison. Andrew Craig Brunson, a US pastor who had been arrested in Turkey and charged for “committing offenses on behalf of FETÖ and PKK, and espionage.” Brunson was sentenced to 3 years 1 month and 15 days of prison. His arrest increased tensions between the US and Turkey. After his release, he returned to the US. The court acquitted the journalists on October 22nd, 2020. The court of appeal continues its examination of the verdict.

Editor-in-Chief of Yakın Doğu News webpage. He was taken into custody on February 29, 2020 for his social media posts. He was arrested with the accusation of “Publicly provoking hatred and hostility in public”. He is requested to be sentenced to from 1 year 3 months to 5 years 3 months of imprisonment. He was in pre-trial detention. At the first hearing he was sentenced to 50 days of imprisonment for the accusation of “praising an offence and the offender”. The imprisonment sentence was then converted to a thousand TL of fine. With this decision he was released.

A reporter with the Kurdish service of Voice of America. He was detained on March 20th, 2017. He was arrested on March 31st, 2017 on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organization”. He faces a prison sentence of seven years, six months to 15 years. At the first hearing of the trial on November 21st, 2017, he was released after 241 days of detention. His trial continues.

Arzu Demir has been a journalist since 1997. She was kept under custody for 4 days in the scope of the “KCK Press” operation. She was accused of “being a member of a terrorist organization” and her prosecution continues without arrest. Demir is facing from 7 years 6 months to 15 years of imprisonment.

Aslı Erdoğan is an author. She was also a member of the advisory committee of Özgür Gündem Newspaper, which was shuttered. She was prosecuted with all the other authorized persons of the newspaper. She was detained for 4 months and 10 days on the charges of “being a member of a terrorist organization” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.” After her travel ban was removed, she moved to Germany.

Taş worked as a columnist for the now-closed Meydan newspaper and Haberdar news website. He was detained over allegations of “being affiliated with FETÖ Media Structure” on 31 August 2016. He was remanded on 3 September 2016 on charges of “knowingly and willingly aiding an armed terrorist organisation despite not being a part of its hierarchical structure”. The indictment charged him with “membership of an armed organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Taş be sentenced to imprisonment of between five and 10 years. He was released after the first hearing of the trial on 31 March 2017. The same day, he was detained again as part of a new investigation concerning him. The second indictment charged him with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order” and “attempting to destroy the government”. The prosecution demanded that Taş be sentenced to two aggravated life sentences. The court ruled that Taş be released in the hearing held on 27 October 2017. At the end of the trial process, he was sentenced to imprisonment of three years, one month and 15 days on charges of “knowingly and willingly aiding an armed organisation despite not being a part of its hierarchical structure”. After the approval of the ruling by the court of appeals, he was remanded once again on 8 November 2018. He was released on 8 February 2019 after completing his sentence. The Court of Cassation overturned the ruling concerning Taş. It was decided that the trial should be conducted along with the charges of “defamation of the President” and “publicly holding state institutions and organs in contempt”. Taş’s trial recommenced.

Aydın Engin has been a journalist since 1969. He was sentenced to 7,5 years in prison for “aiding and abetting an organisation knowingly and willingly, although he does not belong to the structure of that organization.” The Court of Cassation reversed the decision about Aydın Engin. However in the retrials, court decided to persist against the Court of Cassation’s decision to overturn.

Managing editor of Yeni Yaşam Newspaper. Due to his news stories about the funeral of a MİT officer killed in Libya, he was charged with “publishing, disseminating and revealing information and documents about the tasks and activities of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT)” and “revealing information concerning the state’s security and its political interests”, facing a prison sentence of 8 to 19 years. At the first hearing of the trial on June 24th, 2020, he was released. In the second hearing of the trial on September 9th, 2020, he was acquitted from the charge of “revealing information concerning the state’s security and political interests”. However, he was condemned to four years, eight months, seven days in prison for “continuously publishing, disseminating and revealing information and documents about the tasks and activities of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT)”. The legal proceedings continue at the court of appeal. He is also being tried with the accusation of “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation through media” for the article “no peace will flow in this spring” he wrote about Turkey’s mil operation in Northern Syria in Yeni Yaşam Daily. He faced from 1 year 6 months to 7 years 6 months of imprisonment. He was acquitted at the first hearing.

Ayşe Batumlu was a columnist for the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper. She was charged with “publicly inciting people to commit crime”, “praising the offence and offenders” and “terrorist organisation propaganda” over one of her published articles. The prosecution demanded that Batumlu be sentenced to imprisonment of between eighteen months and 12 years. Batumlu was sentenced to imprisonment of fifteen months on the charge of “terrorist organisation propaganda by means of the media” at the end of the trial on 21 May 2019. The sentence was postponed.

Ayşe Berktay is a translator and a writer. She was a writer of the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper. She was charged over one of her published articles with “terrorist organisation propaganda”. The prosecutor demanded that Berktay be sentenced to imprisonment of between one year and five years. At the end of the trial process, which lasted approximately three years, she was acquitted on 21 May 2019.

Her articles were published at publications such as, Hayalet Gemi, Expres, Kırmızı Alarm, Kaos GL, Özgür Politika. She was the editor-in-chief of Pazartesi. She worked at Şamdan Plus, Sabah Daily and the weekend edition of Star Daily. She has books published, such as Çalar Saat, Erkekliğin Kitabında Yazmaz Bu and Behiç Aşçı Kitabı, and has translations. She was sentenced to 1 year 6 months of imprisonment within the scope of Özgür Gündem Co-Editors-in-Chief on Duty Case. This sentence was executed between January 29th, 2019 and June 12th, 2019.

Ayşe Oyman worked as a reporter and editor for Özgür Gündem, IMC TV and DİHA. She was detained in December 2011 within the case known as the “KCK Press.” She was jailed for charges of “membership of a terrorist organization.” Oyman was released on March 3, 2014. Her trial continues. Oyman is facing from 7 years 6 months to 15 years of imprisonment.

She was working at shuttered IMC TV. She was accused of “establishing or managing an armed terror organisation” through the meetings and interviews she made with the executives of Democratic Society Congress (DTK). She was requested to be sentenced to, from 15 years to 22 years and six months of imprisonment. Although she was charged with “establishing or leading an armed terror organization”, on December 7, 2020 she was sentenced to six years, three months in prison on the charge of “membership of an armed terror organization”. The announcement of the verdict was not deferred. A court of appeal is currently examining the verdict.

Ayşenur Parıldak was a journalist for the Zaman Newspaper, which has since been closed. Parıldak was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for FETÖ membership. The decision was approved by both the Court of Appeal and Cassation. Parıldak, who was 26 years old when she was arrested, has been in prison since August 2016.

Writer BirGün Daily. He is being tried with the accusation of making news of tweets of the account called “Fuat Avni”, during the term when the disassociation between “Fetullah Gülen Congregation” and AKP Government was starting to be visible. He is requested to be sentenced for from 7,5 years to 15 years of imprisonment, for “knowingly and willingly aiding an organisation without partaking in the hierarchical structure of the organisation.” He was acquitted on October 13th, 2020.

Editor-in-chief of Odatv news web-page. He was arrested on March 6, 2020 for the article titled “Odatv reached the footage of the quiet funeral service of the MIT (National Intelligence Agency) member who was martyred in Libya”. He was accused of “disclosing the information and documents regarding intelligence actions”. He was accused of “disclosing, publishing and revealing information and documents regarding the duties and activities of the National Intelligence Agency” and “disclosing information that must be kept confidential, regarding state’s safety and its internal and external political interests.”. He was requested to be sentenced to from eight to 19 years of imprisonmnet. In the second hearing of the trial on September 9th, 2020, he was acquitted from the charge of “revealing information concerning the state’s security and political interests”. He was condemned to 3 years 9 months in prison for “revealing information concerning National Intelligence Organization (MİT)”. Upon the announcement of the verdict, he was released from prison. The legal proceedings continue at the court of appeal.

Editor in charge of the news at Odatv webpage. He taken into custody on March 5, 2020 for the article “Odatv reached the footage of the quiet funeral service of the MIT (National Intelligence Agency) member who was martyred in Libya” published in the webpage. He was arrested for the accusations of “disclosing, publishing and revealing information and documents regarding the duties and activities of the National Intelligence Agency” and “causing the capture of the information and documents regarding intelligence actions”, “disclosing the information and documents regarding intelligence actions” and “capturing the information and documents regarding the intelligence actions”. He is requested to be sentenced to from eight years to 19 years of imprisonment. He is being kept at Istanbul Silivri Prison.After being detained for 114 days at Istanbul Silivri Prison, at the first hearing of the case, he was released, pending trial. Barış Terkoğlu was acquitted from all charges at the second hearing on September 9th, 2020.

Bayram Kaya is a former correspondent for the now-closed Zaman newspaper. He was working as a correspondent for the now-closed Yeni Hayat newspaper when the investigation concerning him began. He was detained on allegations of “being affiliated with FETÖ Media Structure” on 25 July 2016. On 29 July 2016, he was remanded in custody on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The indictment charged him with “membership of an armed organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Kaya be sentenced to imprisonment of between five and 10 years. He was released pending trial at the first hearing of the trial on 31 May 2017. However, he was detained once again on the same day after the appeal of the prosecutor’s office. He was sentenced to imprisonment of six years and three months on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” at the end of the trial on 8 March 2018. The decision was approved by the court of appeals. Upon completing his sentence, Kaya was released on 10 September 2020. He spent more than four years in prison before being released.

Beritan Canözer is a correspondent for JinNews. She was taken into custody and arrested in 2005 due to her “enthusiasm.” She was acquitted from this trial but another lawsuit continues against her with the charge of “being a member of a terrorist organization.” She was acquitted after the trial.

Berzan Güneş is a former reporter for Mezopotamya News Agency (MA). He was taken into custody in Şırnak on June 11, 2018. Güneş was charged for “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” and subsequently arrested. He was released at the end of his first hearing on Aug. 7, 2018. He was tried without being arrested. At the end of the trial he was sentenced to 3 years 1 month 15 days of imprisonment for “making propaganda for an organisation”. The decision was taken to the appeal court.

Bilge Oykut Contepe was a member of the advisory board of publication for the Özgür Gündem Newspaper, which has then been closed down. She has been on trial with the other managers working for the newspaper on the charge of terrorism.

Bülent Ceyhan was the news editor for the now-closed Millet newspaper. A detetion order was issued on him on charges of “being affiliated with FETÖ Media Structure”. He could not be detained as he was abroad at the time. The indictment charged him with “membership of an armed organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Ceyhan be sentenced to imprisonment of between five and 10 years. A warrant for his arrest was issued during the trial. At the end of the trial on 8 March 2018, it was decided to separate the court case concerning him. The warrant for his arrest has not yet been realised.

Bülent Keneş was a journalist working for the Zaman daily since 1994. Keneş was the editor-in-chief for the Today’s Zaman Newspaper, which was later closed. He also served as a correspondent for Anadolu Agency’s New York office. He resigned from his position in the Zaman Newspaper in December 2015.

A food engineer. Wrote an article regarding Ministry of Health’s research in Cumhuriyet Daily. Following the article an an official complaint was filed against him for “disclosing information that is to be kept confidential in a manner to cause indignance in public” by the Ministry. Following the complaint, a lawsuit was opened. He was acquitted from the accusations of “Securing Prohibited Confidential Information” and “Disclosing Prohibited Confidential Information”. He was sentenced to 1 year 3 months of imprisonment. Court of Appeal process continues.

Bünyamin Köseli was a correspondent for the now-closed Aksiyon magazine. He was detained on 25 July 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with FETÖ media structure”. He was placed in custody on 29 July 2016 on the charge of “membership of an armed organisation”. The indictment demanded that Köseli be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years on the charge of “membership of an armed organisation”. He was detained again the same day as part of a new investigation. He was placed in custody two weeks later. The second indictment charged him with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order” and “attempting to destroy the government”. The prosecution demanded that Köseli be sentenced to two aggravated life sentences. He was released at the hearing of the trial held on 18 August 2017. At the end of the trial process, Köseli was sentenced to imprisonment of six years and three months on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The sentence was approved by the court of appeals and the Court of Cassation.

Reporter at Daily Yolculuk news website. She was accused of “identifying officials on anti-terror duties as targets” and “membership of armed terrorist organisation” through her posts regarding a judge who was being discussed for some of his decisions in different cases. She is requested to be sentenced to, from six years to 13 years of imprisonment. She is released pending trial.

Çağdaş Erdoğan is an independent photojournalist. He was taken into custody on Istanbul’s Kalamış coast. He was prosecuted for taking photographs of MIT’s social facility. He was charged with “being a member of an armed terrorist organization” and “making propaganda for an terrorist organization.” He was imprisoned for 6 months and was released pending trial. He was sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison. Suspended disclosure of the decision.

He was a correspondent at the now shuttered Dicle News Agency (DİHA) and editor-in-chief of Yeni Yaşam newspaper. He was arrested for over a year under the trial widely known as “KCK Press Trial”. He was charged with “membership of an armed terror organization”. He faces 7 years 6 months to 15 years in prison. He is being tried in absentia.

He was a reporter at Vatan Newspaper. He was detained on December 20th, 2011 as part of an investigation widely known as the “KCK Press Trial”. He was arrested on December 24th, 2011. He was released pending trial on September 13th, 2012. He is charged with “membership of an armed terrorist organization.” He faces 7 years 6 months to 15 years in prison. His trial continues.

Çağrı Sarı is a reporter for the Evrensel newspaper. Upon the complaint of Berat Albayrak, the then energy minister, current economy minister and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-law, and Albayrak’s brother Serhat Albayrak, Sarı was prosecuted for her reporting on the “Paradise Papers,” a set of leaked electronic documents relating to the offshore investments of numerous politicians and business people around the world. She was eventually acquitted.

He has been a journalist since 1975. He was accused of “publicly provoking hatred and hostility in one section of the public against another section which has a different characteristic based on social class, race, religion, sect or regional difference” for his words at Tele1 TV Show he hosted. He is facing from nine months to one year six months of imprisonment. He was acquitted

Can Dündar was the editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet Newspaper. At the beginning of the Cumhuriyet trial, in which he was one of the defendants, Dündar was abroad. He was prosecuted for his reporting on Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization’s (MIT) trucks and spent 3 months in prison. He was sentenced to 5 years 10 months of prison.

Editor at BirGün Daily. He is being tried with the accusation of making news of tweets of the account called “Fuat Avni,” during the term when the disassociation between Fetullah Gülen Congregation and AKP Government was starting to be visible. He is requested to be sentenced for from 7 years 6 months to 15 years of imprisonment, for “knowingly and willingly aiding an organisation without partaking in the hierarchical structure of the organisation.” He was acquitted on October 13th, 2020. He is also being tried for an article he wrote regarding the investigation of Berkin Elvan’s death, who had lost his life after a tear gas canister fired by the police had hit his head during the Gezi Park Protests in 2013, for the accusation of “identifying officials on anti-terror duties as targets”. He is facing from 1 year to 3 years of imprisonment.

Canan Coşkun started her professional career at the Cumhuriyet newspaper in February 2012. She terminated her contract in September 2018. Coşkun was charged for “disclosing or publishing the identities of state officials that were assigned in the fight against terrorism” (Law on the Fight Against Terrorism, Article 6) and sentenced to 2 years and 3 months in prison. The Court of Appeal has yet to approve the verdict. In addition, Coşkun is being prosecuted due to one of her reports and has been charged with “insulting the President of the Republic” (TPC 299).

Due to one of her reports, Pişkin was sentenced to 10 months in prison for “disclosing or publishing the identities of state officials assigned in the fight against terrorism” (Law on the Fight Against Terrorism, Article 6). The announcement of the verdict was deferred.

Celal Başlangıç is a journalist and a writer. Celal Başlangıç supported the “Editors-In-Chief on Watch” campaign organised in solidarity with the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper. He was placed under investigation over the news articles published on 12 May 2016 when he acted as the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. He was charged with “terrorist organisation propaganda”, “praising offences and offenders” and “inciting to crime”. The prosecution demanded that Başlangıç be sentenced to imprisonment of between eighteen months and 12 years. Başlangıç was sentenced to imprisonment of fifteen months on the charge of “terrorist organisation propaganda by means of the media”. His sentence was postponed. The court of appeals approved the imprisonment sentence on 15 October 2020.

Celalettin Can is a civil society organiser. He supported the Editors-In-Chief on Watch campaign organised in solidarity with the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper. Can was placed under investigation over the news items and a column he wrote which were published on 20 May 2016 when he acted as the newspaper’s editor-in-chief. The indictment charged Can with “terrorist organisation propaganda”, “praising offences and offenders” and “publicly inciting others to commit crime”. Can was sentenced to imprisonment of fifteen months on the charge of “terrorist organisation propaganda by means of the media” at the end of the trial process which lasted approximately three years. The sentence was not postponed. The court of appeals approved the ruling on 15 September 2020. Can was charged with “terrorist organisation propaganda”, “praising offences and offenders” and “publicly inciting others to commit crime” over one of his articles published in the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper on the day he assumed the role of acting editor-in-chief. The prosecution demanded that Can be sentenced to imprisonment of between eighteen months and 15 years. Can was acquitted at the end of the trial process on 21 May 2019, which lasted for approximately three years.

Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu was the editor of the now-closed Aksiyon magazine. He was detained on 26 July 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with FETÖ media structure”. Kalyoncu was placed in custody on 30 March 2016 on the charge of “membership of an armed organisation”. The indictment charged him with “membership of an armed organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Kalyoncu be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. He was released at the hearing of the trial that was held on 31 March 2017. However, Kalyoncu was placed in custody again upon the prosecutor’s objection. At the end of the trial, Kalyoncu was sentenced to imprisonment of six years and three months on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” on 8 March 2018. The court of appeals approved the sentence. However, the Court of Cassation overturned the ruling. Kalyoncu was released at the end of the retrial on 15 June 2020. He had been in prison for three years and 10 months when he was released.

Academic and an writer at Evrensel Daily. A claim for damages for 200.000 TL was opened against her for her article titled “Who made AKP lose votes?” by Serhat Albayrak, Vice-President of the Executive Board of Turkuvaz Media Group which is close to the AKP government.

Çiğdem Toker began her journalism career in 1986. Due to her two columns, a total of 3 million Turkish liras of lawsuits were brought against her for non-pecuniary damages by Agrobay Greenhousing and Şenbay Mining, which are incorporated in the Bayburt Group. In addition, due to her another article published in the Cumhuriyet Newspaper, the Postal and Telegraph Service (PTT) sued her with a demand of 50,000 liras for non-pecuniary damages. Agrobay Greenhousing’s and PTT’s claims for damages were rejected. All 3 cases against Toker has dropped. Sözcü Newspaper columnist Çiğdem Toker published an article titled “İBB’den Vakıflara Hizmet Raporu” (“İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Publishes Report on its Services to Foundations). A lawsuit for damages was filed against her by Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation), where President Erdoğan’s son-in-law Selçuk Bayraktar has a managerial position. The foundation demands 80 thousand TL in compensation for alleged “violation of personal rights.” This trial against Toker still continues.

Cihan Acar was a correspondent for the now-closed Bugün newspaper. He was detained on 29 July 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with FETO media structure”. Acar was placed in custody on the charge of “membership of an armed organisation” on 29 July 2016. He was released at the first hearing of the trial on 31 March 2017. Acar was detained again the same day as part of a new investigation. The second indictment charged him with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order” and “attempting to destroy the government”. The prosecution demanded that Acar be sentenced to two aggravated life sentences. He was released at the hearing of the trial held on 18 August 2017. At the end of the trial process, Acar was sentenced to imprisonment of six years and three months on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” on 8 March 2017. The sentence was approved by the court of appeals and the Court of Cassation. Following the approval of the sentence, he was placed in custody again on 23 June 2020. He has been serving his sentence as a convict at Edirne Prison.

Cihat Ünal was a correspondent for the now-closed Cihan News Agency. He was detained in Antalya on 23 July 2016 on the allegation of “being affiliated with the FETO media structure”. He was remanded in custody on 26 July 2016 on the allegation of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The indictment dated 22 March 2017 charged him with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Ünal be sentenced to imprisonment of between seven years and 15 years. Ünal was released pending trial on 29 March 2017 after the indictment was accepted. The trial concerning Ünal is currently underway. Ünal is standing trial without remand.

Cuma Ulus was the executive producer of the now-closed Can Erzincan TV. He was detained on 26 July 2016 on allegations of being “affiliated with FETÖ media structure”. Ulus was placed in custody on 30 March 2016 on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. He was released at the hearing of the trial held on 31 March 2017. However, before having been released from prison, he was detained again over the prosecutor’s objection. At the end of the trial, Ulus was sentenced to imprisonment of seven years and six months on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” on 8 March 2018. The sentence was approved by the court of appeals and the Court of Cassation. He has been serving his sentence in prison since 30 July 2016.

Değer Özergün worked for the Hürriyet and Sabah Newspapers and Şamdan Magazine. He was the former editor-in-chief of the Millet Newspaper. He is a fugitive in the Karşı trial.

German journalist and author of Turkish origin. While he was working as the Turkey representative of the German daily Die Welt, a lawsuit was filed against him due to his news story covering the leaked e-mails of the then Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak. He was charged with “two counts of spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization” and “inciting the people to hatred and enmity”, facing a prison sentence of three years, six months to 20 years and six months. He was imprisoned for about a year. After his release, he returned to Germany. At the end of the legal proceedings, he was sentenced to two years, nine months and 22 days in prison on charges of “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization via the media”. In a separate lawsuit against him, he is accused of “publicly insulting a public official” with his social media posts, facing a prison sentence of one year two months to two years four months.

She was the editor in charge at Etkin News Agency (ETHA). She is being tried for making news of the leaked email content, which allegedly belonged to the Berat Albayrak, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources and son-in-law of President Tayyip Erdoğan. She is requested to be sentenced to, from three years to 11 years of imprisonment. She is also being tried for “public insult” through the article entitled “Mersin Women’s Platform: We are exposing the molester attorney Onur Kale” which was published in ETHA. She is requested to be sentenced to, from three months 15 days to two years four months of imprisonment. She is released and pending trial on both charges.

Editor-in-Chief of the news web-page T24. He was accused of making news of tweets of the account called “Fuat Avni”, during the term when the disassociation between “Fetullah Gülen Congregation” and AKP Government was starting to be visible. He is facing from 7 years 6 months to 15 years of imprisonment with the accusation of “knowingly and willingly aiding an armed terrorist organisation without taking part in the hierarchical structure.” At the end of the trials, he was was acquitted.

She was a reporter at Jin News Women’s Agency. She is accused of “knowingly and willingly aiding a terrorist organisation without taking part in its hierarchical structure” and making propaganda for a terrorist organisation”. She is requested to be sentenced to, from six years to 15 years of imprisonment. She is released pending trial.

Duygu Güvenç started her journalistic career in 1997. She is facing up to two years in prison due to her reporting on how Pastor Andrew Brunson’s release was based on diplomatic and political reasons, not legal ones. Alican Uludağ, another reporter for the Cumhuriyet newspaper is also prosecuted in the same file. The pending trial against her continues. Andrew Craig Brunson, a US pastor who had been arrested in Turkey and charged for “committing offenses on behalf of FETÖ and PKK, and espionage” Brunson was sentenced to 3 years 1 month and 15 days of prison. His arrest increased tensions between the US and Turkey. After his release, he returned the US. The court acquitted the journalists on October 22nd, 2020. The court of appeal continues its examination of the verdict.

Ece Sevim Öztürk was the editor-in-chief of the news website Çağdaş Ses. She was accused of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” and spent 5 months and 21 days in prison. She was sentenced to 3 years 1 month and 15 days in prison for “aiding a terrorist organization knowingly and willingly.” The appeal process continues.

Ekrem Dumanlı was the editor-in-chief of the Zaman Newspaper, which has since been closed. The prosecutor demanded an aggravated life imprisonment up to three times regarding his case, which is part of the FETÖ Media Main Case in which many writers and journalists were prosecuted. However, he was abroad when the investigation began.

Elif Aydoğmuş worked as an editor for the Özgür Gündem Newspaper. After the newspaper was shut down by the Istanbul 8th Criminal Court of Peace, she was arrested by the police officers who raided the newspaper’s building. She was accused of “resisting a public officer to prevent him from performing his duty” (TPC 265/1) and “insulting” (TPC 125).

Emin Çölaşan is a columnist for the Sözcü Newspaper. He started working as a journalist in 1977. He was tried in the Sözcü trial with the charges of “aiding a terrorist organization, though he doesn’t belong to the structure of that organisation.” At the end of the trial he was sentenced to 3 years 6 months and 15 days of imprisonment for the accused crimes. The verdict was upheld by the court of appeal, and now the appeal process continues at the Court of Cassation.

Emre Soncan was a correspondent for the now-closed Zaman newspaper. He was detained on 25 July 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with FETO media organisation”. He was remanded in custody on 29 July 2016. The indictment charged Soncan with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Soncan be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. On 23 February 2018, it was decided that his trial file should be separated and merged with another trial file commenced on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. Soncan was sentenced to imprisonment of seven years and six months on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” at the end of the trial process that involved two indictments that were separated and then merged. The ruling was finalised after being approved by the court of appeals and Court of Cassation. Soncan has been serving his imprisonment sentence as a convict at Istanbul Silivri Prison.

Columnist at Evrensel Daily. He was accused for his article “Parıl parıl parlıyordu Hermes çanta”. He was accused of “publicly insulting through an audio, text or visual message” on the lawsuit opened due to the complaint of President Tayyip Erdoğan’s wife Emine Erdoğan. He is requested to be sentenced to, from three months 15 days to two years four months of imprisonment. At the end of the legal proceedings, he was acquitted on December 2nd, 2020.

Chief clerk in charge and columnist at Antalya Körfez Daily. He was accused of “publicly insulting the President in a successive manner” through his social media posts. He was requested to be sentenced to, from one year five months 15 days to eight years two months of imprisonment. He is released pending trial.

Eray Sargın was the editor-in-chief of Yolculuk Newspaper. He reported the news about Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son-in-law and then-Minister of Energy and Natural Sources, Berat Albayrak’s emails which was published by a ‘hacker’ group called ‘RedHack.’ He has been pending trial within the scope of the ‘Redhack lawsuit.’ Prosecutors have recommended he receive 11 years of jail time.

Erdal Güven is the executive editor of the “Diken” internet news website. He was charged with preparing news reports of the claims made by the social media account “Fuat Avni”, which featured heavily on the agenda between 2014 and 2016 with its outputs regarding the government, the judiciary and law enforcement at a time when the Justice and Development Party and the “Fetullah Gülen Congregation” diverged. Güven was charged with “knowingly and willingly aiding the armed terrorist organisation despite not being its member” over the news reports published on the website on “Fuat Avni” and two outputs shared from his personal Twitter account. The prosecution demanded that Güven be sentenced to imprisonment of between seven years and six months and 15 years. He was acquitted at the second hearing of the trial on 3 September 2020.

He was the Ankara correspondent of Cumhuriyet Daily. He was tried for the news he made regarding the criminal investigation reports of the trucks which were stopped that allegedly belonged to National Intelligence Agency and were carrying weaponry to Syria. He was detained for 92 days. He was released after the Constitutional Court ruled that their rights were violated. He faced one time aggravated life imprisonment, one lifetime imprisonment and up to 30 years of imprisonment. He was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment. The decision was overruled by the Court of Cassation. At the end of the process, he was acquitted.

Erdem Özden is a reporter for the Mavi Didim Newspaper. He was prosecuted without arrest for reporting the Labour Party’s (Emek Partisi) protest of the Afrin military operation. Like the other journalists from Didim, Özden was charged with “publicly provoking hatred or hostility in one section of the public against another section” (TPC 216). Özden was acquitted.

Eren Erdem is a journalist and writer. He is also a former CHP [Republican People’s Party] Member of Parliament. He was prosecuted and charged for “aiding and abetting an organization knowingly and willingly, although he does not belong to the structure of that organization,” and was sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in prison.

Eren Keskin is an attorney at law. She was the writer for and the co-executive editor of the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper. Several lawsuits were filed against Keskin due to her position as the co-executive editor of the newspaper.

Between February and June 2016, she was charged with “terrorist organisation propaganda”, “publicly inciting people to commit crime” and “praising offences and offenders” over the news items and articles published in the newspaper. In the 16 indictments that were merged, the prosecution demanded that Keskin be sentenced to imprisonment of between 18 months and 12 years.

Keskin was sentenced to three years and nine months of imprisonment for the crime of “consecutive terrorist organisation propaganda by means of the media” at the end of the trial that lasted approximately three years. Along with the managers and the writers of the newspaper, Keskin was charged with “disruption of the unity and territorial integrity of the state”, “terrorist organisation propaganda” and “membership of an organisation formed to commit crime”.

The prosecution demanded one aggravated life sentence and imprisonment sentences of between 15 years and 32 years. Keskin was charged with “public defamation of the President” and “terrorist organisation propaganda” over a news report published in the newspaper. The prosecution demanded that Keskin be sentenced to imprisonment of between 26 months and nine years and eight months. The case files concerning Keskin were merged, and the trial is currently underway. Keskin is on trial without remand.

Writer at BirGün Daily. He was summoned to give a statement for “making news about the information regarding the death of MIT (National Intelligence Agency) member during the operations Turkey had launched in Libya” with the accusation of “disclosing, publishing and revealing information and documents regarding the duties and activities of the National Intelligence Agency” and “disclosing the information that must be confidential regarding states safety and its internal and external political interests”. He was requested to be sentenced to from 8 years to 19 years of imprisonment. His file was separated from the main case file as he is abroad. He is also being tried with the accusation of “calumny” for the article “Bekir Bozdağ Scolded the Prosecutor About Sarin: Do not make operations against Islamic Organisations without telling us” he wrote. He faced from 1 year to 4 years of imprisonment. His trial continues in his absentia as he is abroad.

Representative of Turkey for Reporters Without Borders (RSF). For almost 20 years he worked as the Representative of Turkey for RSF, legal advise desk coordinator, freedom of expression editor and Editor-in-Chief. He is preparing Media Watch Reports for bane. He was accused of “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation” within the scope of Özgür Gündem Editors-in-Chief on Duty case. At the end of the trial he was acquitted. However due to the objection of the prosecutor, the case was taken to the appeal court. The court of appeal overruled the acquittal verdict on October 20th, 2020, and thus the retrial began.

Ertuğrul Mavioğlu is a journalist and a writer. Ertuğrul Mavioğlu supported the “Editors-In-Chief on Watch” campaign organised in solidarity with the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper. He was placed under investigation over the news articles published on 10 May 2016 when he acted as the newspaper’s editor-in-chief. The indictment charged Mavioğlu with “praising offences and offenders” and “publicly inciting others to commit crime”. The prosecution demanded that Mavioğlu be sentenced to imprisonment of between eighteen months and 12 years. Mavioğlu was sentenced to imprisonment of fifteen months on the charge of “terrorist organisation propaganda by means of the media”. His sentence was postponed. The court of appeals approved the imprisonment sentence on 15 September 2020.

Ertuş Bozkurt was a reporter for the Dicle News Agency who also worked as an editor and regional chief at the agency. He was jailed for the KCK Press Case on charges of “being an executive of an illegal organization.” After two and a half years in detention, he was released. The trial continues.Bozkurt is facing from 15 years ta 22 years 6 months of imprisonment.

Detained as a reporter for the Dicle News Agency, Evrim Kepenek is on trial for the KCK Press Case on charges of “being a member of a terrorist organization.” Kepenek worked for the Cumhuriyet, Birgün, Taraf, DİHA, and Jin News. She now works as the editor of the Women and LGBTI section on the Bianet news website.

Journalist Faruk Arhan was accused of “insulting the president through his social media posts. He was acquitted. Due to the objection of the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s attorneys, the decision was taken to the appeal court. The acquittal decision was overruled. He was sentenced to 1 year 2 months 17 days of imprisonment for “insulting the President”

Faruk Eren is a journalist and a writer. Faruk Eren supported the “Editors-In-Chief on Watch” campaign organised in solidarity with the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper. Eren was placed under investigation over the news articles published on 5 May 2016 when he acted as the newspaper’s editor-in-chief. He was charged with “terrorist organisation propaganda”, “praising offences and offenders” and “inciting others to commit crimes”. The prosecution demanded that Eren be sentenced to imprisonment of between eighteen months and 12 years. He was sentenced to imprisonment of fifteen months on the charge of “terrorist organisation propaganda by means of the media.” His sentence was postponed.

He was the editor-in-chief of Evrensel Daily. In 2017, he was tried for writing about the allegations regarding President Tayyip Erdoğan’s family’s business affairs abroad, which were covered in the international press. He was accused of “publicly insulting the President”. He was requested to be sentenced to, from one year two months to four years eight months of imprisonment. At the end of the trial, he was acquitted. in 2010, he was tried for making news of the talk between the then Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek and President of the Constitutional Committee Burhan Kuzu. he was accused of “Violation of Confidentiality of Communication”. He faced from two years to five years of imprisonment. At the end of the trial, he was acquitted.

He’s been a journalist since 1996. He is being tried for criticising President Tayyip Erdoğan’s statement regarding the economical measures taken against coronavirus pandemic in Turkey, through his social media post. He is accused of “intentionally damaging the reputation, prestige or assets of a bank or disseminating inaccurate news” according to the Banking Law. He is requested; to be sentenced to, from one year to three years of imprisonment and to be fined, from one thousand days to two thousand days of judiciary fine. At the first hearing, the court accepted the indictment prepared for the accusation of “insulting the President”, against him through the same social media post. He is released pending trial.

She was the news manager at Dicle News Agency (DİHA), which was closed down by a decree law under the State of Emergency. She was arrested on December 24th, 2011 as part of an investigation known to the public as the “KCK Press”. She was detained until September 27th, 2013. On charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organization”, she faces 7.5 to 15 years of imprisonment. Her trial continues.

Fehim Işık is a journalist and a writer. Fehim Işık supported the “Editors-In-Chief on Watch” campaign organised in solidarity with the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper. An investigation commenced concerning Işık over the news articles published on 15 May 2016 when he acted as the newspaper’s editor-in-chief. The indictment charged Işık with “terrorist organisation propaganda”, “praising offences and offenders” and “publicly inciting others to commit crime”. The prosecution demanded that Işık be sentenced to imprisonment of between eighteen months and 12 years. Işık was sentenced to imprisonment of fifteen months on the charge of “terrorist organisation propaganda by means of the media”. His sentence was postponed. The court of appeals approved the imprisonment sentence on 15 September 2020.

Bloomberg HT reporter. In August 2018, he was accused of “giving false, wrong or deceptive information, tell rumors, give notices, make comments or prepare reports or distribute them in order to affect the prices of capital market instruments, their values or the decisions of investors” with his social media posts regarding the economical crisis and value loss in Turkish Lira. He was requested to be sentenced to, from three years to five years of imprisonment according to the Capital Market Law. He is released pending trial.

Ferhat Parlak is the licensee of and correspondent for Silvan Mücadele Gazetesi newspaper published locally in Diyarbakır. He was detained on 11 April 2018. He was placed in custody on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” on 13 April 2018. In the indictment dated 19 April 2019, the prosecution demanded that Parlak be sentenced to imprisonment of between seven years and six months and 15 years on the same charge.

He was released at the first hearing of the trial on 8 July 2019 after spending approximately 15 months in prison. At the end of the trial process, which lasted approximately 20 months, the court rejected the case on 7 December 2020. The ruling was grounded on the fact that another trial was conducted on the same charge with the same evidence which resulted in acquittal.

Koçali was a writer of the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper and a member of its Editorial Consulting Board. She was charged with “terrorist organisation propaganda”, “praising offences and offenders” and “publicly inciting people to commit crime” over one of her published articles on 8 March 2016. Along with newspaper’s other writers and co-executive editors, the prosecution demanded that Koçali be sentenced to imprisonment of between 18 months and 12 years.

Koçali was charged over her three published articles as part of the trial publicly known as the “Özgür Gündem Newspaper Main Court Case”, which charged the newspaper’s managers and writers. Koçali was charged with “disruption of the unity and territorial integrity of the state”, “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” and “terrorist organisation propaganda”. The prosecution demanded one aggravated life sentence and an imprisonment sentence of between 15 years and 32 years for Koçali. The case files were separated due to Koçali being abroad and her defensive statement not having been submitted. The trial is currently underway in absentia.

Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu was a writer for the Türksolu magazine. He was detained on 31 August 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with FETO media structure”. He was placed in custody on allegations of “knowingly and willingly aiding the armed organisation despite not being a part of its hierarchical structure” on 3 September 2016. The indictment charged Çulhaoğlu with “membership of an armed organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Çulhaoğlu be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. He was released at the first hearing of the trial on 31 March 2017. Çulhaoğlu was again placed in custody the same day as part of a new investigation. The second indictment charged him with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order” and “attempting to destroy the government”. The prosecution demanded that Çulhaoğlu be sentenced to two aggravated life sentences. At the end of the trial process, Çulhaoğlu was sentenced to imprisonment of six years and three months on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The ruling that was approved by the court of appeals was overturned by the Court of Cassation. Çulhaoğlu was released on 15 June 2020 by a ruling of the same court that had previously sentenced him to imprisonment. He had been in prison for three years and 10 months when he was released. Çulhaoğlu being retried without remand.

Gökmen Ulu was the İzmir correspondent for the Sözcü Newspaper. He was tried in the scope of the “FETÖ/PDY investigation” on May 26, 2017. Ulu was released in the first hearing of the trial on Nov. 8, 2017. His prosecution continues. At the end of the trial he was sentenced to 1 year 13 months of imprisonment for the accused crimes. The verdict was upheld by the court of appeal, and now the appeal process continues at the Court of Cassation.

Günay Aksoy worked for the Özgürlükçü Demokrasi and Özgür Gündem Newspapers. She is a defendant in the trial of the raid to the Özgür Gündem Newspaper. She is accused of “being a member of a terrorist organization” and there is an arrest warrant against her.

Güray Tekin Öz is a journalist since 1971. He was prosecuted in the Cumhuriyet trial and spent 9 months in jail. He was convicted for “aiding a terrorist organization, though not belonging to the structure of that organisation” and sentenced to 3 years 9 months of prison. After the Court of Appeal approved the verdict, he had to return to prison for the remaining 1 year 23 day of his sentence. The Court of Cassation reversed the decision about Güray Tekin Öz along with all the other defendants of Cumhuriyet Newspaper. Güray Tekin Öz was released on Sept. 12, 2019. However in the retrials, court decided to persist against the Court of Cassation’s decision to overturn.

Habip Güler was a correspondent for the now-closed Zaman newspaper. He was detained on 29 July 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with FETÖ media structure”. He was placed in custody the same day on the charge of “membership of an armed organisation”. The indictment demanded that Güler be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years on the charge of “membership of an armed organisation”. Güler was released pending trial at the hearing of the trial held on 31 March 2017. However, he was placed in custody again without having been released from prison over the prosecutor’s objection. At the end of the trial, on 8 March 2018, Güler was sentenced to imprisonment of six years and three months on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The verdict was approved by the court of appeals and the Court of Cassation. Güler was released after having completed his sentence on 10 September 2020. He had been in prison for more than four years when he was released.

He was taken into custody on April 2, 2020 for 5 of his social media posts regarding government’s fundraiser started against the “coronavirus” pandemic. He was arrested on April 3, 2020. He was accused of “publicly provoking hatred and hostility in public”, “publicly degrading the religious values of a section of the public”, “in a successive manner”. He was requested to be sentenced to, from one year 10 months 15 days to seven years of imprisonment. He was released pending trial at the first hearing on May 6, 2020, after being detained for almost a month. He is pending trial.

Worked at Cumhuriyet Daily for 24 years since 1995. A lawsuit was opened about the article “AKP Protection to the Islamic Terror: Bozdağ Covered the Sarin Case” he wrote on October 22, 2015. He was requested to be sentenced to, from 1 year to 4 years of imprisonment for committing the crime of “calumny” against the then Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdağ. He is released pending trial.

Hakan Karasinir is a journalist. He uses Hakan Kara in his professional life. He was prosecuted in the Cumhuriyet trial and spent 9 months in jail. He was convicted of “aiding a terrorist organization, though he doesn’t belong to the structure of it” and sentenced to 3 years 9 months in prison. The Court of Appeal approved the verdict and he had to return to prison to complete the remaining 1 year 23 days of his sentence. The Court of Cassation reversed the decision about Hakan Kara along with all the other defendants of Cumhuriyet Newspaper. Hakan Kara was released on Sept. 12, 2019. However in the retrials, court decided to persist against the Court of Cassation’s decision to overturn.

Halil İbrahim Balta was the economics correspondent for the now-closed Zaman newspaper. He was detained on 2 August 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with FETÖ media structure”. Balta was placed in custody the same day on the charge of “membership of an armed organisation”. The indictment charged Balta with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Balta be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. He was released at the first hearing of the trial on 31 March 2017. However, Balta was again placed in custody the same day without having been released from prison over the prosecutor’s objection. He was released again at the hearing held on 8 February 2018. At the end of the trial, Balta was sentenced to imprisonment of six years and three months on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The sentence was approved by the court of appeals and the Court of Cassation.

Halil İbrahim Özdabak was a cartoonist for Yeni Asya newspaper. He was charged with “consecutive terrorist organisation propaganda” over his political cartoons published in the newspaper. The prosecution demanded that Özdabak be sentenced to imprisonment of between one year and three months and eight years and nine months. He was tried without being detained along with Kazım Güleçyüz, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. At the end of the trial, Özdabak was sentenced to one year, six months and 22 days of imprisonment. The court of appeals examination into the ruling is underway.

Hamza Gündüz was a correspondent for the now-closed Dicle News Agency (DİHA). He was charged with “presenting individuals who served in counterterrorism as potential targets” over sharing a news reports and social media outputs regarding Musa Çitil, who was leading the curfew period operations in Diyarbakır’s Sur district. The prosecutor demanded that Gündüz be sentenced to imprisonment of between one year and three years. He was acquitted at the end of the prosecution process. The prosecutor’s office launched an appeal against the ruling. The examination of the court of appeals concerning the ruling is underway.

Hanım Büşra Erdal was a correspondent and a columnist for the now-closed Zaman newspaper. She was detained on 26 July 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with FETO media structure”. She was remanded in custody on 29 July 2016. The indictment charged Erdal with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Erdal be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. She was released at the hearing of the trial that was held on 31 March 2017. However, she was remanded in custody again before having been released from the prison upon the prosecutor’s objection. The court ruled that Erdal be sentenced to imprisonment of six years, three months at the end of the trial process on 8 March 2018. The ruling was approved by the court of appeals and Court of Cassation. Erdal has been serving her sentence as a convict at Istanbul Silivri Prison.

Harun Çümen was the editor-in-chief for the now-closed Zaman newspaper. On 4 March 2018, he was detained on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. Three days later on 7 March 2018, he was placed in custody on the same charges. The indictment demanded that Çümen be sentenced to imprisonment of between seven years and six months and 15 years on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. At the end of the prosecution process on 18 July 2019, he was sentenced to seven years, six months of imprisonment on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The Court of Appeals decision concerning the ruling is pending. Çümen has been serving his prison sentence at Balıkesir Closed Security Prison since 7 March 2018.

Hasan Cemal began his journalism career at Devrim magazine in 1969. After working for Yeni Ortam, Günaydın newspapers and the Anka News Agency, he started to work for the Cumhuriyet newspaper in 1973. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper from 1981 to 1992. He wrote columns for the Sabah and Milliyet newspapers. He has been writing for the T24 news website since 2013. He is the founder and president of the Platform for Independent Journalism: P24. He was prosecuted because of his article titled “From Silvan: They made us get used to the deaths and pains…” (published in T24 on Dec. 4, 2017) and charged with “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.” The court ruled to fine him.

Hasan Yavaşlar was the editor-in-chief of the now-closed Antalya Gazetesi. An investigation was launched concerning him over the complaint of the owner of another local newspaper published in Antalya. He was charged with “consecutively, knowingly and willingly aiding an armed terrorist organisation” in the indictment dated 24 October 2018. The prosecution demanded that Yavaşlar be sentenced to imprisonment of between 10 years, two months and 15 days and 26 years and three months. The trial file concerning him was merged with the trial file in which eight journalists in Antalya were tried at the second hearing of the trial on 24 October 2019. The trial concerning Yavaşlar is currently underway. Yavaşlar is standing trial without remand.

Havva Cuştan is a correspondent for the ETHA News Agency. The prosecutor demanded a sentence of up to 20 years imprisonment for “being a member of a armed terrorist organization” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.” She is currently pending trial.

Journalist Hayko Bağdat is being tried through his articles, social media posts and his words on different TV programs on the grounds of “insulting the President” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation”. It is known that there a numerous open cases against Bağdat, our research on these case files is ongoing.

She is a reporter with the Cumhuriyet Newspaper. Ocak published a news story reporting that the Ministry of Treasury and Finance Berat Albayrak had purchased plots of land along the future trajectory of the Istanbul Canal Project, and Albayrak filed lawsuits against her for “insult”, demanding one year, two months to two years, four months in prison as well as moral compensation of 200 thousand TL. On October 27, 2020, Ocak was acquitted in the trial for the charge of “insult”. Currently Ocak faces five to 14 years in prison as well as 250 thousand TL in moral compensation for her news story about the Bosphorus residence of Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun. Over her article “Luxurious Appurtenances with View over Bosphorus”, Cengiz Holding’s Chairman Mehmet Cengiz filed a lawsuit for 1 million TL in damages; and over her articles on the public tenders organized by Gaziantep’s Şahinbey Municipality, she faces yet another lawsuit for 20 thousand TL in damages. The trials continue and she is not under arrest.

Hicran Urun worked for the Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspaper as an editor. Urun was arrested in the scope of the operation against the newspaper on April 4, 2018, on the charge of “being a member of a terrorist organization” and has been detained since April 10, 2019.

He wrote columns for a long time. He was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months of prison in the Cumhuriyet trial. The Court of Appeal approved the sentence. Çetinkaya’s lawyers appealed to The Court of Cassation. The Court of Cassation ruled to reverse the decision about Çetinkaya. However in the retrials, court decided to persist against the Court of Cassation’s decision to overturn.

Reporter at JinNews Women’s Agency. She is being tried for making news of the “corruption allegations” regarding the trustees, appointed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Mayorship of Muradiye Province of Muş. She is accused of “publicly insulting a public official”. She is requested to be sentenced to, from one year two months to two years four months of imprisonment. She is released pending trial.

Correspondent for Odatv web-page. She was taken into custody in Manisa, for the article “Odatv reached the footage of the quiet funeral service of the MIT (National Intelligence Agency) member who was martyred in Libya”. She was brought to Istanbul. Following the statement, she was arrested by the court she was forwarded to. The arrest decision was based on the accusations of “causing the capture of the information and documents regarding intelligence actions”, “disclosing the information and documents regarding intelligence actions” and “capturing the information and documents regarding the intelligence actions”. She was requested to be sentenced to from eight to 19 years of imprisonmnet. In the second hearing of the trial on September 9th, 2020, she was acquitted from the charge of “revealing information concerning the state’s security and political interests”. She was condemned to 3 years 9 months in prison for “revealing information concerning National Intelligence Organization (MİT)”. Upon the announcement of the verdict, she was released from prison. The legal proceedings continue at the court of appeal.

Hüseyin Aydın was a correspondent for the now-closed Cihan News Agency. He was detained on 30 July 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with FETÖ media structure”. Aydın was placed in custody the same day on the charge of “membership of an armed organisation”. The indictment charged Aydın with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Aydın be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. He was released at the first hearing of the trial on 31 March 2017. He was released at the first hearing of the trial on 31 March 2017. Aydın was placed in custody again the same day as part of a new investigation. The second indictment charged him with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order” and “attempting to destroy the government”. The prosecution demanded that Aydın be sentenced to two aggravated life sentences. At the end of the trial, on 8 March 2018, Aydın was sentenced to imprisonment of six years and three months on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The sentence was approved by the court of appeals and the Court of Cassation. Aydın is currently serving serving his prison sentence as a convict at the Silivri High Security Prison.

He worked for almost 45 years at newspapers such as Özgür Ülke, Özgür Gündem, Halk Gerçeği, Özgürlükçü Demokrasi. Lastly he was a Co-editor-in-Chief at Özgür Gündem Newspaper. He has 63 criminal cases opened against him because of his time there. He was imprisoned after his 3 years 9 months sentence was approved. He was sent to Sinan Prison. He is still being tried for numerous cases. He was released at October 25th, 2019, after the First Package of Judicial Reforms was set in motion at October 24th, 2019, that allowed the appeal process for sentences under 5 years.

He was an editor at Özgür Gündem Newspaper, which was closed with a Decree Law under the State of Emergency. He also worked as a reporter at Evrensel Newspaper. He was arrested on December 24th, 2011 as part of an investigation known to the public as the “KCK Press Trial”. He was detained for 27 months under the scope of this lawsuit. He is currently being tried on charges of “establishing and leading an armed terrorist organization”, facing a prison sentence of 15 to 22.5 years.

İbrahim Karayeğen was the night editor-in-chief for the Zaman Newspaper which was then shuttered. As part of the legal cases against the newspaper, the prosecutor sought a sentence of up to three times aggravated life imprisonment and an additional 15 years in prison. The charges against him were coup-plotting and terrorism. He was sentenced to 9 years in prison. The Court of Appeal upheld the sentence. His file is in the Court of Cassation.

İhsan Çaralan is a columnist for Evrensel newspaper. İhsan Çaralan acted as the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper’s editor-in-chief in solidarity. An investigation was launched concerning him after he assumed this duty for a day on 31 May 2016. He was charged with “publicly inciting others to commit crime”, “praising offences and offenders” and “terrorist organisation propaganda” and an indictment was prepared. In total, the prosecution demanded that Çaralan be sentenced to imprisonment of between eighteen months and 12 years. He was sentenced to imprisonment of fifteen months at the end of the trial. In addition, Çaralan was put on trial over a news item published the same day on the charge of “defamation of the president”. He was sentenced to imprisonment of one year, 20 days over this charge. The pronouncement of the judgment concerning these two sentences were delayed.

İhsan Duran Dağı was a writer for the now-closed Zaman newspaper. As part of the investigation concerning the managers and writers of Zaman newspaper, he was detained on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” on 27 July 2016. He was released pending trial by the prosecutor’s office without being appearing before the court on 30 July 2016. The indictment charged him with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order”, “attempting to destroy the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT)” and “attempting to destroy the Government of the Republic of Turkey” by means of coercion and violence and “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Dağı be sentenced to three aggravated life sentences and imprisonment of between seven years and six months and 15 years. He was acquitted of all charges at the end of the trial process, on 6 July 2016.

İlhan Tanır was a reporter for the Cumhuriyet Newspaper. He has never been on trial as he lives abroad. An indictment was issued against him but his file was separated from the case because of his location.

İnan Kızılkaya was the managing editor-in-chief of the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper. He was held in custody for 441 days as part of the case file publicly known as the Özgür Gündem Main Court Case. Approximately 100 lawsuits were filed against Kızılkaya due to his position in the newspaper. 38 separate case files concerning Kızılkaya were merged with the Özgür Gündem Main Court Case.

Columnist at Cumhuriyet Daily. She was accused of “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation through media” for her social media post. She was requested to be sentenced to from 1 year 6 months to 7 years 6 months of imprisonment. She is acquitted.

The Ankara Representative of Tele 1 TV. He was detained on June 8th, 2020 under an investigation launched by Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office about a non-commissioned officer in December 2019. He was released pending trial on June 11th, 2020. In the indictment, he was accused of “disclosing confidential information about the state in a continuous manner”. He faces six years, three months to 17 years, six months in prison. The trial against him continues and he is not under arrest.

He worked for Dicle News Agency, closed down by a decree law under the State of Emergency, as well as other media outlets such as Fırat News Agency (ANF), Birgün, Cumhuriyet, Radikal and Rudaw. He was arrested on December 24th, 2011 as part of an investigation known to the public as the “KCK Press Trial”. Until February 8th, 2013, he was detained pending trial. He faces 7.5 to 15 years in prison on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organization.” His trial continues. At the first hearing of the case on September 2, 2020, after being incarcerated for almost 6 months, he was released to pend trial.

İsminaz Temel is an editor for Etkin News Agency (ETHA). She was jailed pending trial for 1 year, 3 months and 20 days on charges of “making propaganda for an organization” and “being a member of a armed terrorist organization.” She is currently pending trial.

Kadri Gürsel has been a journalist since 1986. He was prosecuted in the Cumhuriyet trial and spent 11 months in prison. He was sentenced to two and a half years of prison. The Court of Appeal approved the verdict. After the Court of Cassation’s decision to overturn for the acquittal of Kadri Gürsel, retrial has commenced. At the end of the retrial, court ruled for Gürsel’s acquittal.

Kazım Güleçyüz is the editor-in-chief and the lead writer of Yeni Asya newspaper. He was charged with “consecutive terrorist organisation propaganda” through his social media outputs and columns and the political cartoons that were published in the newspaper. The prosecution demanded him to be sentenced to imprisonment of between one year and three months and eight years and nine months. At the end of the trial, he was sentenced to one year and eight months of imprisonment. The court of appeals’ examination of the ruling is underway.

Documentarian and video journalist. He was taken into custody in İzmir at the demonstrations protesting the constitutional referendum on April 16, 2017, and was arrested on April 21, 2017. The indictment accused him of “participating in unlawful assembly or demonstrations and resisting despite the warning or use of force” and “publicly insulting the President in a successive manner”. He was requested to be sentenced to, from one year 11 months 15 days to 11 years two months of imprisonment. On July 10, 2017, at the first hearing of the case, he was released after 80 days of detainment. On June 19, 2019, at the end of the trial, he was acquitted of the accusation of “participating in unlawful assembly or demonstrations and resisting despite the warning or use of force”. However he was sentenced to one year three months 16 days of imprisonment for the accusation of “publicly insulting the President in a successive manner”. Appeal examination of the decision is ongoing.

Kenan Baş was a correspondent for the now-closed Cihan News Agency and Zaman newspaper. He was detained in Antalya on 23 July 2016 on the allegation of “being affiliated with the FETO media structure”. Baş was placed in custody on 26 July 2016 on the allegation of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The indictment dated 22 March 2017 charged him with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Baş be sentenced to imprisonment of between seven years and 15 years. Baş was released pending trial on 29 March 2017 after the indictment was accepted. The trial concerning Baş is currently underway. Baş is standing trial without remand.

He was a reporter, editor and regional representative at the now shuttered Dicle News Agency (DİHA). He was arrested on December 24th, 2011 under the investigation widely known as “KCK Press Trial”. He was detained for 27 months. He was charged with “establishing and leading an armed terrorist organization”. He faces between 15 and 22 years six months of imprisonment. In a separate trial, he is charged with “successively spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization”, facing one year three months to eight years nine months in prison. At the end of the trial process he was convicted of “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation through media in a successive manner” and sentenced to one year six months 22 days of imprisonment. Announcement of the sentence was deferred.

Bloomberg HT Chief of Intelligence. In August 2018, he was accused of “giving false, wrong or deceptive information, tell rumors, give notices, make comments or prepare reports or distribute them in order to affect the prices of capital market instruments, their values or the decisions of investors” with his social media posts regarding the economical crisis and value loss in Turkish Lira. He was requested to be sentenced to, from three years to five years of imprisonment according to the Capital Market Law. He is released pending trial.

Reporter at JinNews women’s news agency. She was arrested after being taken into custody in Diyarbakır on October 9th, 2018. She was accused of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation in a successive manner, through media”. She was jailed pending trial until November 12, 2019. She is now released pending trial.

Kutlu Esendemir started his career at the Cumhuriyet Newspaper. He worked for HaberTürk, Yeni Harman, Leman, and the Karşı Newspaper. In the Karşı trial, he was accused of “aiding and abetting an organization knowingly and willingly, although he does not belong to the structure of that organization” and was acquitted.

Lalezar Sarıibrahimoğlu (Lale Kemal) is a columnist for the Zaman Newspaper. She was in pretrial detention for 2.5 months. She faced coup and terror related charges along with other writers and managers of the Zaman Newspaper. The prosecutor sought a sentence of up to three times aggravated life imprisonment and also an additional 7.5 to 15 years of imprisonment. She was acquitted of all charges.

Mesopotamia Agency (MA) reporter. He was taken into custody at October 9th, 2018. He was detained for 3 days. He was tried without arrest with the accusations of “membership of a terrorist organisation” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation in a successive manner. He was requested to be sentenced up to 28 years 1 month 15 days of imprisonment. At the first hearing he was acquitted of the “membership of a terrorist organisation” accusation. He was sentenced to 1 year 3 months of imprisonment for the crime of “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation in a successive manner”. Announcement of his sentence deferred.

He was a reporter with the Dicle News Agency (DİHA) closed down with a decree law during the State of Emergency. He was taken into custody under the investigation generally known as “KCK Press Trial” in December 2011. He was imprisoned pending trial for two years. He faces 15 to 22.5 years in prison on charges of “establishing and leading an armed terror organization.”

She worked at Sabah Newspaper, Kanal A, Metro TV, Kral TV, Flash TV, Akşam Newspaper, Forum Newspaper and Şafak Newspaper. She was taken into custody at May 26th, 2017 in the scope of Sözcü Newspaper Case. She was released at September 22nd, 2017. At the end of the trial she was acquitted. The prosecutor appealed against the verdict of acquittal. The court of appeal upheld the acquittal.

Journalist/Author and academician, was imprisoned for 1 year and 9 months. Despite the Violation of Rights decision of the Constitutional Court he wasn’t released for 5 and a half months. He was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for “attempting to abolish the constitutional order of the Republic of Turkey”. The Court of Cassation has acquitted Mehmet Altan. However he is being accused of “assisting an organisation without taking part” on the trial that restarted on October 8th, 2019. Court of Cassation decided for his acquittal. However in the retrial at October 8th, 2019, he was accused of “aiding an organisation without being a member”. After the trial he was acquitted.

Mehmet Aydoğmuş is a journalist. He worked for the Haberdar news website as news director. He also worked as the editor-in-chief and news director of the news website of the Karşı Newspaper. He is a fugitive defendant in the Karşı Newspaper trial.

He was a reporter with the now shuttered Taraf Newspaper. He stands trial for his news stories about the “Balyoz (Sledgehammer) Coup Plan” and the “Egemen (Sovereign) Action Plan.” He is charged with “establishing or leading an armed terror organization” and “destroying, misusing, stealing, obtaining and disclosing documents related to the security of the state”. He also stood trial for similar charges over his article “The Decision to Finish Gülen Taken at the National Security Council (MGK) in 2004.” At the end of the trial, which lasted six years and eight months, he was sentenced to 17 years, one month in prison on November 23rd, 2020. There are other trials against him, and he is prisoned pending trial since March 2nd, 2015.

Mehmet Bozkurt is a journalist. He worked as a reporter for the Aydınlık Newspaper. He was the deputy editor-in-chief at the Karşı Newspaper as well as the news director. Since May 2019, he has been working as the project editor in İnkilap Kitapevi, a publishing house.

Mehmet Çağlar Tekin is the chief coordinator of Yurt Newspaper. He was tried for publishing the interview of journalist Tunca Öğreten with Perihan Mağden, which was first published on Diken. He was charged for “insulting the president of the Republic.” He was acquitted of the charge after judicial proceedings.

He worked as a managing editor, columnist and reporter for the newspaper Azadîya Welat, which was closed down by a State of Emergency decree law. He was detained on December 20th, 2011 as part of an investigation generally known as the “KCK Press Trial”. He was arrested on December 24th, 2011 on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organization”, and stayed in prison until March 27th, 2014. He continues to stand trial, facing 7 years 6 months to 15 years in prison.

Works as a freelance journalist in Diyarbakır. A lawsuit was opened against him based on his social media publications for “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation in a successive manner”. Erol was acquitted at the first hearing of the case where he was requested to be sentenced for up to 8 years 9 months of imprisonment.

Editor-in-Chief at Yeni Yaşam Daily. He was summoned to give a statement for “making news about the information regarding the death of MIT (National Intelligence Agency) member during the operations Turkey had launched in Libya”. Following his statement, he was released with judicial control condition. However due to the objection of the prosecutor’s office he was arrested. On March 8 2020, he was arrested with the accusation of “disclosing information and documents regarding intelligence activities”. Indictment against him requests him to be sentenced to from 8 years to 19 years of imprisonment on the grounds of “disclosing information and documents regarding intelligence activities” and “revealing information regarding security and political interests of the state”. He was released at the first hearing of the case after being detained for 109 days. He is released pending trial. In the second hearing of the trial on September 9th, 2020, he was acquitted from the charge of “revealing information concerning the state’s security and political interests”. However, he was condemned to four years, eight months, seven days in prison for “continuously publishing, disseminating and revealing information and documents about the tasks and activities of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT)”. The legal proceedings continue at the court of appeal.

He was the Assistant Editor-in-Chief of the Zaman Newspaper which got shut down. 3 times aggravated life imprisonment punishment was asked for him in the scope of the trial which is known as FETÖ Main Media Case. However he was abroad when the investigations commenced.

Mehmet Özdemir was the editor-in-chief of the Zaman Newspaper, which has since been shuttered. As part of the legal cases against the newspaper, the prosecutor sought three times aggravated life imprisonment and an additional 7.5 to 15 years in prisonand for “being a member of an armed organization” (314/2). The charges against him were coup-plotting and terrorism. He was acquitted after one year and nine months of pretrial detention.

Writer at T24 news webpage. He is being tried for 4 articles he wrote, questioning the increment of the wealth of Binali Yıldırım, former Chairman of the Parliament, former Prime Minister and former AKP MP, and Yıldırım’s children. He is accused of “insulting a public officer.” He is requested to be sentenced to, from 1 year 5 months 15 days to 4 years 1 month of imprisonment. At the end of the trial, he was acquitted after Binali Yıldırım withdrew his complaint.

Chief editor at Tele1 TV channel. In August 2018, he was accused of “giving false, wrong or deceptive information, tell rumors, give notices, make comments or prepare reports or distribute them in order to affect the prices of capital market instruments, their values or the decisions of investors” with his social media posts regarding the economical crisis and value loss in Turkish Lira. He was requested to be sentenced to, from three years to five years of imprisonment according to the Capital Market Law. He is released pending trial.

She was working at Etkin News Agency as a translator and a correspondent. She was arrested with the accusations of “terrorist organisation membership” and “propaganda for a terrorist organisation”. She was detained for 7.5 months as she was tried. Tolu, after the ban on leaving the country was lifted at August 2018, went to Germany, where she has a citizenship. Her trial is ongoing.

Editor-in-Chief of Sözcü Newspaper. He has been working as a journalist for 43 years. In the scope of the trial against Sözcü Newspaper, he was tried for the accusation of “Assisting an armed terrorist organisation despite not partaking in the hierarchical structure of the organisation.” At the end of the hearing he was sentenced to 3 years 4 months of imprisonment. The verdict was upheld by the court of appeal, and now the appeal process continues at the Court of Cassation.

Metin Yoksu was a reporter for the Dicle News Agency, which has since been closed. He reported the news about Tayyip Erdoğan’s son-in-law and then-Minister of Energy and Natural Sources Berat Albayrak’s emails, which were published by a ‘hacker’ group called ‘RedHack.’ He has been pending trial within the scope of the ‘Redhack lawsuit.’ Prosecutors recommended he receive 11 years of jail time.

Muhammet Sait Kuloğlu was the publisher and executive editor of the “Subuhaber” website, to which access was restricted. He was detained on 25 July 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with FETÖ media structure”. Kuloğlu was placed in custody the same day on the charge of “membership of an armed organisation”. The indictment charged Kuloğlu with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Kuloğlu be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. He was released at the first hearing of the trial on 31 March 2017. However, before having been released from prison, Kuloğlu was detained again over the prosecutor’s objection. At the end of the prosecution process, Kuloğlu was sentenced to imprisonment of seven years and six months on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The sentence was approved by the court of appeals and the Court of Cassation. Kuloğlu has been serving his sentence as a convict in Silivri Prison.

Mümtazer Türköne was a columnist for the Zaman Newspaper. He was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months of imprisonment for “being a member of a terrorist organization” as part of the case where other writers and executives of the newspaper were put on trial. The Court of Appeal upheld the sentence. His file is in the Court of Cassation. He has been in Silivri Prison since Aug. 4, 2016.

Columnist at Yeniçağ Daily. He was summoned to give a statement for “the articles about the funeral service of the MİT (National Intelligence Agency) who died during the operations in Libya” on March 6, 2020. After the statement he was released with a judicial control condition. However due to the objection of the prosecutor’s office, a capture warrant for his arrest was issued. He was arrested at March 8th, 2020 with the accusation of “disclosing publishing and revealing information and documents regarding intelligence actions”. He was requested to be sentenced to, from eight years to 19 years of imprisonment. He is being kept at Silivri Prison. In the second hearing of the trial on September 9th, 2020, he was acquitted from the charge of “revealing information concerning the state’s security and political interests”. However, he was condemned to four years, eight months, seven days in prison for “continuously publishing, disseminating and revealing information and documents about the tasks and activities of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT)”. Upon the announcement of the verdict, he was released from prison. The legal proceedings continue at the court of appeal.

Murat Aksoy was a writer for Millet newspaper. He was detained on 30 August 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with FETO media structure”. He was placed in custody on 3 September 2016 on the charge of “knowingly and willingly aiding the armed organisation despite not being a part of its hierarchical structure”. The indictment charged Aksoy with “membership of an armed organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Aksoy be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. The court ruled Aksoy to be released pending trial at the first hearing on 31 March 2017. Aksoy was placed in custody again the same day as part of a new investigation. The second indictment charged him with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order” and “attempting to destroy the government”. The prosecution demanded that Aksoy be sentenced to two aggravated life sentences. He was released at the hearing of the trial dated 24 October 2017. At the end of the trial, Aksoy was sentenced to imprisonment of twenty five months on the charge of “knowingly and willingly aiding the armed terrorist organisation despite not being a member of its hierarchical structure” on 8 March 2018. The court of appeals approved the ruling. He was placed in custody again on 22 November 2018 after the ruling was finalised. Aksoy was released on 4 January 2019 after having completed his prison sentence. The Court of Cassation approved the imprisonment sentence after the sentence was completed.

Murat Kazancı is a journalist. He worked for the Hürriyet Newspaper. He was the news director of the Karşı Newspaper. He was arrested and released in the scope of the Karşı investigation. The Istanbul 23rd High Criminal Court ruled for an apprehension warrant against Kazancı on Aug. 2, 2018. His file was separated along with the other fugitive defendants in the final hearing.

Murat Sabuncu is a journalist. He worked for the Milliyet and Cumhuriyet Newspapers, as well as Tempo and Fortune magazines. He was prosecuted in the Cumhuriyet trial and spent 16 months in prison. He was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months of prison. The Court of Cassation reversed the decision which had been approved by the Court of Appeal. However at the end of the retrials, court decided to persist against the Court of Cassation’s decision to overturn.

Musa Kart started his career as a caricaturist in 1974. He was prosecuted in the Cumhuriyet trial, and was imprisoned for nine months during the proceedings. He was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison, and was jailed once again after the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict. The Court of Cassation reversed the decision against Musa Kart along with all the other defendants from Cumhuriyet newspaper, and Kart was released on Sep. 12, 2019. However, in the subsequent retrial, his prison sentence was reinstated.

Mustafa Çetin was the Editor-in-Chief of the Sözcü newspaper’s online news portal. He was tried for “aiding an organization knowingly and willingly, although she or he does not belong to that structure” (TPC 220/7). Çetin was released pending trial. At the end of the hearing he was sentenced to 3 years 4 months of imprisonment for the accused crimes. The verdict was upheld by the court of appeal, and now the appeal process continues at the Court of Cassation.

Mustafa Erkan Acar was the news editor of the now-closed Bugün newspaper. He was detained on 3 September 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with FETO media organisation”. He was placed in custody the same day on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The indictment charged Acar with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Acar be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. He was released at the hearing of the trial that was held on 31 March 2017. He was placed in custody again the same day over a new investigation commenced concerning him. The second indictment charged Acar with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order” and “attempting to destroy the Government of the Republic of Turkey”. The prosecution demanded that Acar be sentenced to two aggravated life sentences. He was sentenced to imprisonment of seven years and six months on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” at the end of the trial process. The ruling was approved by the court of appeals and Court of Cassation. Acar has been serving the prison sentence as a convict at Istanbul Silivri Prison.

He worked at Radikal Daily and HaberTürk TV. He was taken into custody within the scope of the case, publicly know as “the MIT crisis”, where National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) Director Hakan Fidan and MIT personnel were summoned to give statements. He was arrested on July 18, 2018 and taken to Istanbul Silivri Prison. He was requested to be sentenced to, one time aggravated life sentence and from 26 years six months to 46 years of imprisonment. He is jailed pending trial.

Chief clerk in charge at BirGün Daily. He is being tried for the article “Berat Albayrak - Özge Ulusoy topic was removed from Ekşi Sözlük” published in BirGün Daily. The case was opened due to the complaint of Minister of Treasury and Finance Berat Albayrak. He is accused of “publicly insulting a public official due to the performance of his public duty”. He is requested to be sentenced to, from 2 years 4 months to 4 years 8 months of imprisonment. They were acquitted at the end of the trial, on November 19th, 2020.

Economist-writer. In August 2018, he was accused of “giving false, wrong or deceptive information, tell rumors, give notices, make comments or prepare reports or distribute them in order to affect the prices of capital market instruments, their values or the decisions of investors” with his social media posts regarding the economical crisis and value loss in Turkish Lira. He was requested to be sentenced to, from three years to five years of imprisonment according to the Capital Market Law. He was charged with “insulting the President in a continuous manner” with three social media posts dating from October 2015 and March 2016. In the indictment dated June 2nd, 2020, the prosecutor requested an imprisonment of one year, five months, 15 days for Sönmez. His trials continue, yet he is not in jail.

Mustafa Ünal was the Ankara representative of the Zaman Newspaper. In the scope of the Zaman trial, he was sentenced to 10 years, 6 months imprisonment for “being a member of an armed terrorist organization.” The Court of Appeal upheld the sentence. His file is in the Court of Cassation. Ünal has been in prison since July 30, 2016.

Mutlu Çölgeçen was the editorial office coordinator of the now-closed Millet newspaper. He was detained on 31 August 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with FETO media organisation”. He was remanded on 2 September 2016 on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The indictment charged Çölgeçen with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Çölgeçen be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. He was sentenced to imprisonment of seven years, six months on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” at the end of the trial process on 8 March 2018. The ruling was approved by the court of appeals and Court of Cassation. He is currently serving his sentence in Silivri Prison.

Ankara News Manager of Oda TV news website. She was detained on June 8th, 2020 as part of an investigation launched by Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office of a non-commissioned officer in December 2019. She was first charged with “obtaining confidential information for the purposes of political and military espionage.” On June 11th, 2020, she was arrested on the charge of “disclosing confidential information”. In the indictment, she was accused of “disclosing confidential information in a continuous manner”. The prosecutor requested a prison sentence of six years, three months to 17 years, six months. She was released pending trial at the first hearing on November 9th, 2020. In addition, she stood trial in both a criminal case and a lawsuit for damages upon the complaint of the-then Chief of General Staff, and current Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar, based on her news story about the confidential secret statements in a trial regarding the military coup attempt of July 15th, 2016. At the end of these legal proceedings, she was fined 7 thousand 80 TL in the criminal case. The court ruled to defer the announcement of the verdict. In the lawsuit for damages, she was fined 20 thousand TL in non-pecuniary damages.

Columnist at HaberTürk news site. She was accused of “publicly insulting a public officer due to the performance of his public duty through an audio, text or visual message” through her article entitled “Minister of Justice’s reaction to that disgraceful decision”, published on the webpage on June 15, 2018. She was requested to be sentenced to, from one year two month to two years four months of imprisonment. She is released pending trial.

Nazlı Ilıcak, a journalist and writer, was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. The decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal. The decision approved by the Court of Appeal was reversed by the Court of Cassation. She was a journalist and columnist for 44 years when she was arrested.

Necati Doğru is a columnist for the Sözcü Newspaper. He was tried under the charges of “aiding and abetting a terrorist organization knowingly and willingly, though he is not a member of that organisation”.At the end of the trial he was sentenced to 3 years 6 months and 15 days of imprisonment for the accused crimes. The verdict was upheld by the court of appeal, and now the appeal process continues at the Court of Cassation.

She was the editor in charge of the Karınca Newspaper news website. She was; accused of “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation in a successive manner” following the articles published in the site about the military operations Turkey launched in northern Syrian city of Afrin, requested to be sentenced to, from one year three months to eight years nine months of imprisonment, and acquitted. She was charged with “publicly insulting the President in a successive manner” again through the articles published in the site and requested to be sentenced to, from a year five months 15 days to eight years two months of imprisonment. She was acquitted.

Linguist Necmiye Alpay was a member of the Consulting Board of Publishing at Özgür Gündem. She was arrested at August 2016 along with the publishing board members and the employees of the paper after the paper was shut down. She was detained for 120 days. She was released at the first hearing of the case and acquitted at the end of the trial.

Nedim Türfent started journalism in 2012 at the Dİcle News Agency (DİHA), which has been shut down by a decree law. In May 2016, he was taken into custody in Van. He was sentenced to 8 years and 9 months in prison on the charge of “being a member of an organization.” The verdict was approved by the Court of Cassation on May 21, 2019. His individual appeal to the Constitutional Court is ongoing. He has been detained since May 13, 2016 in prison.

Erdemir was the correspondent and editor for the Özgür Gündem Newspaper. Detained in December 2018 for the “KCK press” investigation, she spent 2.5 year in pretrial detention. She is still on trial on the charge of “being an executive of an organization.”

She worked as a reporter for the Dicle News Agency (DİHA), which was closed down by a State of Emergency decree law. While she was the agency’s correspondent in Hakkari, she was detained on December 20th, 2011 as part of an investigation generally known as the “KCK Press Trial”. She was arrested on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organization”, after four days of detention. She was arrested pending trial until December 6th, 2013. She is charged with “membership of an armed terrorist organization”, facing 7 years 6 months to 15 years in prison. Her trial continues.

Nuray Özdoğan is an attorney at law. She was a writer for the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper. She was charged with “terrorist organisation propaganda” over one of her articles published in the newspaper. The prosecution demanded that Özdoğan be sentenced to imprisonment of between one and five years. Özdoğan was acquitted on 21 May 2019 at the end of the trial process which lasted for approximately three years.

Nurettin Fırat was a reporter and editor with Özgür Gündem newspaper, closed permanently by a Decree Law issued under the State of Emergency. He was taken under custody on December 20th, 2011 under the investigation known as the “KCK Press” case, and arrested on December 24th, 2011. He was imprisoned pending trial for two and a half years, and then released on May 12th, 2014. He faces 15 years, 6 months to 22 years in prison on charges of “leading and establishing an armed terrorist organization.

She was a columnist at Zaman Daily, which later was shut down. Within the scope of the trial against Zaman writers, she was accused of “attempting to abolish the order foreseen by the constitution, the parliament and the government of the Republic of Turkey by use of force and violence” and “armed terrorist organisation membership”. She faced 3 times aggravated life imprisonment and from 7 years 6 months to 15 years of imprisonment. She was detained for 75 days. Was acquitted. Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office objected the acquittal decision of Akman at the appeal court. However the appeal court approved the decision. File is being inspected at the Court of Cassation.

Oğuz Usluer was the former news coordinator of Haber Türk TV. He was detained on 11 December 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with FETO media organisation”. He was remanded in custody on 28 December 2016. The indictment charged Usluer with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Usluer be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. He was released at the hearing of the trial that was held on 31 March 2017. He was placed in custody again the same day over a new investigation concerning him. The second indictment charged Usluer with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order” and “attempting to destroy the government”. The prosecution demanded that Usluer be sentenced to two aggravated life sentences. He was sentenced to imprisonment of seven years and six months on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” at the end of the trial process. The ruling was approved by the court of appeals and Court of Cassation. Usluer is currently serving his sentence in Silivri Prison.

He was a reporter with the Dicle News Agency (DİHA), later shuttered by a Decree Law under the State of Emergency. He also worked as a reporter for the newspaper Prestij based in Van. On December 20th, 2011, he was detained in Istanbul, under the scope of the investigation generally known as “KCK Press” case. On December 24th, 2011, he was arrested and stayed in prison until November 16th, 2012. He is charged with “membership of an armed terrorist organization”, and faces a prison sentence between 7 years 6 months and 15 years. He was also taken into custody in April 2019, after a police raid at his apartment for the accusation of “membership of an armed organisation”. He was released with a judicial control condition. He was accused of “insulting the President” with his social media posts, as well. He is requested to be sentenced to, from one year two months to four years eight months of imprisonment.

Editor in charge at Cumhuriyet Daily. A lawsuit was filed against her for the article titled “Police knew about the preparations of the massacre in Ankara train station, 8 days before the attack” published in the paper. She was accused of “revealing or publishing the identity of those providing information about crimes or criminals” and was requested to be sentenced to from a thousand days to five thousand days of judicial fine for being the editor in charge when Alican Uludağ’s article was published. 2 more lawsuits were opened against her due to the complaint of Chief of Communications of the Presidency Fahrettin Altun, regarding Hazal Ocak’s article “illegal in bosporus”. She is requested to be sentenced to, from five to 14 years of imprisonment and 250 thousand Turkish Liras of judicial fine.

Olgun Matur was the owner and a writer for the “Bizim Antalya” internet news website. He was detained in Antalya on 23 July 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with the FETO media structure”. He was placed in custody on 26 July 2016 on allegations of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The indictment dated 22 March 2017 charged him with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Matur be sentenced to imprisonment of between seven years and 15 years. Matur was released pending trial on 29 March 2017 after the indictment was accepted. He was placed in custody again on 1 April 2017 over the objection of the prosecutor’s office. Matur was released pending trial at the second hearing of the trial on 24 May 2017. The trial concerning Matur is currently underway. Matur is standing trial without remand.

Ömer Ağın was a writer for the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper. Ağın was charged with “terrorist organisation propaganda”, “publicly inciting others to commit crime” and “praising offences and offenders” over the article published in Özgür Gündem newspaper under the heading “If you fight you might lose, if you don’t you have already lost” on 12 May 2016 during the Editors-In-Chief on Watch campaign organised in solidarity with the newspaper. The prosecution demanded that Ağın be sentenced to imprisonment of between eighteen months and 12 years. The case file was merged with the case files of other journalists who supported the Editors-In-Chief on Watch campaign. Ağın was acquitted at the end of the trial process.

He was the news manager at the now closed Dicle News Agency (DİHA). In the trial popularly known as the “KCK Press Trial”, he faces a prison sentence between seven years six months to 15 years. He also stands trial for reporting on e-mails that allegedly belong to President Tayyip Erdoğan’s son-in-law, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak. He was detained pending trial for 280 days, and faces a prison sentence between three years and 11 years. His trials continue without detention.

Ömer Özdemir was the Antalya correspondent for the now-closed Cihan News Agency. He was detained on 23 July 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with the FETO media organisation”. He was placed in custody on 26 July 2016 on allegations of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The indictment dated 22 March 2017 charged him with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Özdemir be sentenced to imprisonment of between seven years and 15 years. Özdemir was released pending trial on 29 March 2017 after the indictment was accepted. He was placed in custody again at the first hearing of the trial on 11 April 2017. He was released pending trial at the third hearing of the trial on 6 October 2017. The trial concerning Özdemir is currently underway. Özdemir is standing trial without remand.

Öncü Akgül supported the Editors-In-Chief on Watch campaign organised in solidarity with the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper. Akgül was placed under investigation over the news articles published on 23 May 2016 when he acted as the newspaper’s editor-in-chief. He was charged with “terrorist organisation propaganda”, “praising offences and offenders” and “inciting others to commit crime”. The prosecution demanded that Akgül be sentenced to imprisonment of between eighteen months and 12 years. Akgül was sentenced to imprisonment of fifteen months on the charge of “terrorist organisation propaganda by means of the media”. Akgüls sentence was postponed. The court of appeals approved the imprisonment sentence on 15 September 2020.

He worked at İleri News website as editor-in-chief and writer. He was accused of “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation in a successive manner” through posts made from site’s social media account. He was requested to be sentenced to, from one year three months to eight years nine months of imprisonment. At the end of the trial, he was acquitted. He was also accused of “publicly insulting the President in a successive manner” through posts published from site’s social media account. He is facing from one year five months 15 days to eight years two months of imprisonment. He was sentenced to 1 year, 2 months and 17 days in prison for “publicly insulting the President in a continuous manner” on November 5th, 2020.

Orhan Erinç was a columnist and the concessionaire of Cumhuriyet newspaper. He began his journalistic career in the 1950s. Erinç was sentenced to six years and three months in prison during the Cumhuriyet trial. The Court of Appeal upheld the sentence, and Erinç’s lawyers appealed to the Court of Cassation, which in turn reversed the decision. However, in the subsequent retrial, another court decided to reinstate the prison sentence that had been overturned by the Court of Cassation.

Orhan Kemal Cengiz is a lawyer and a columnist. Despite being a columnist at Bugün newspaper, he was detained as part of the investigation on the managers and writers of Zaman newspaper on 21 July 2016 with the claim “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. After three days of custody procedures, he was released pending trial. The indictment charged him with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order”, “attempting to destroy the Grand National Assembly of Turkey” and “attempting to destroy the Government of the Republic of Turkey” by means of coercion and violence and “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Cengiz be sentenced to three aggravated life sentences and imprisonment of between seven years and six months and 15 years. At the end of the trial process, Cengiz was acquitted of all charges on 6 July 2018. Following the prosecution’s objection, the court of appeals approved his acquittal. the Court Of Cassation’s examination concerning the decision is underway.

Osman Yakut was the Antalya correspondent for the now-closed Zaman newspaper. He was detained in Tekirdağ on 23 July 2016 on the allegation of “being affiliated with the FETO media organisation”. He was placed in custody on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” in Antalya, where the investigation was being carried out, on 26 July 2016. The indictment dated 22 March 2017 charged him with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Yakut be sentenced to imprisonment of between seven years and 15 years. Yakut was released pending trial at the fifth hearing of the trial on 1 February 2018. The trial concerning Yakut is currently underway. Yakut is standing trial without remand.

Özkan Mayda was a correspondent for the now-closed Cihan News Agency. He was detained on 23 July 2016 on the allegation of “being affiliated with the FETO media organisation”. He was placed in custody on 26 July 2016 on the allegation of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The indictment dated 22 March 2017 charged him with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Mayda be sentenced to imprisonment of between seven years and 15 years. Mayda was released pending trial at the second hearing of the trial on 24 May 2017. The trial concerning Mayda is currently underway. Mayda is standing trial without remand.

Four separate lawsuits were filed against journalist Pelin Ünker for her articles about the “Paradise Papers” documents, which she published on Cumhuriyet Newspaper in 2017 while serving as its economics editor. She was charged with “publicly insulting a state official” and “slander via the media” in two criminal lawsuits filed by the prime minister and a minister. She faced a total of 12 years, 8 months in prison, as well as 510 thousand TL in damages. She was sentenced to 1 year, 1 month, 15 days in prison, but this was overturned by the court of appeal, which condemned her to a fine of 7 thousand 80 TL. One lawsuit against her was dropped as the legal deadline for filing the lawsuit had been missed, and the court of appeal ruled to acquit her. She continues to stand trial.

Pınar Gayıp is a reporter working for Etkin News Agency (ETHA). She was prosecuted with the charges of “being a member of a terrorist organization” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.” She was arrested on April 19, 2018. She was then released on June 13, 2019 upon the verdict of a house arrest and a travel ban.

Rahmi Yıldırım is a journalist and a writer. He was charged with “defamation” of then Chief of Staff Hulusi Akar over the article he published on his personal blog with the title “Genelkurmay Başkanı İçin Çok Üzülüyorum” [I Feel So Sorry for the Chief of Staff] on 3 February 2017. The prosecution demanded him to be sentenced to imprisonment of between fourteen months and two years and four months. Yıldırım was acquitted at the end of the trial process on 25 December 2019. The court of appeals’ examination concerning the ruling is underway following the objection of Akar’s attorneys.

He was an editor at Dicle News Agency, shuttered by a Decree Law during the State of Emergency. Under the case popularly known as “KCK Press Trial”, he was arrested on December 24th, 2011 on charges of “establishing and leading an armed terrorist organization”. He was released on May 12th, 2014 after spending two and a half years in prison. His trial continues, and he faces a prison sentence between 15 years and 22 years, 6 months.

Reyhan Çapan was the managing editor-in-chief of the now-closed Özgür Gündem newspaper. She was included in at least 169 court cases as a defendant. 16 different indictments were prepared concerning Çapan over the news items and articles published in 16 different issues of the newspaper between November 2015 and March 2016. Çapan was sentenced to imprisonment of three years and nine months for the crime of “consecutive terrorist organisation propaganda by means of the media” at the end of the trial process, which commenced in May 2016 and lasted approximately three years.

The court of appeals’ examination concerning the ruling is underway. 18 separate indictments were prepared concerning Çapan over several issues of the newspaper published in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The indictments, which were later merged, charged Çapan with “terrorist organisation propaganda by means of the media” and “printing or publishing the statements of terrorist organisations”.

The prosecution demanded that Çapan be sentenced to imprisonment of between three years and six months and 15 years and six months. The trial which commenced in 2014 is currently underway. Çapan is on trial without remand. Çapan was also charged with “public defamation of the president” and “terrorist organisation propaganda” over a news item published in the newspaper on 8 September 2015 with the headline, Saray Çıldırdı [The Palace Has Gone Crazy]. The prosecution demanded that Çapan to be sentenced to imprisonment of between 26 months and three years and nine months. The trial which started by the end of 2015 is also currently underway.

Reyhan Hacıoğlu was the editor of the now-closed Özgür Gündem and Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspapers. She was detained during the police raid on the newspaper building organised to implement the temporary shut-down order issued concerning Özgür Gündem newspaper on 16 August 2016. She was released pending trial after three days of custody procedures. She was charged with “defamation of a public official” and “preventing a public official from performing his/her duty”.

The prosecution demanded that Hacıoğlu be sentenced to imprisonment of between two years and eight years. The trial concerning her is underway. Hacıoğlu is on trial without remand. Hacıoğlu was charged with “terrorist organisation propaganda” over one of her articles published in Özgür Gündem newspaper.

Hacıoğlu was sentenced to imprisonment of 15 months on the charge of “terrorist organisation propaganda by means of the media” at the end of the trial process, which lasted approximately three years. The sentence was postponed. Hacıoğlu was also tried over the publications of the now-closed Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspaper. She was placed in custody on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”.

She was sentenced to imprisonment of three years and one month and 15 days on the charge of “knowingly and willingly aiding a terrorist organisation despite not being a member of its hierarchical structure”. With this ruling she was released from the prison where she had been held for 444 days. The court of appeals’ examination concerning the ruling is underway.

Freelance journalist. She is being tried for “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation through press” for her social media post. She was requested to be sentenced to, from one year six months to seven years and six months of imprisonment. At the end of the trial, on October 22nd, 2020, she was sentenced to one year, three months in prison for this charge. The sentence was not postponed. The court of appeal is reviewing the verdict.

He was a reporter with Dicle News Agency (DİHA) closed down with a decree law during the State of Emergency. He was taken under custody on December 20th, 2011, under the investigation popularly known as “KCK Press Trial”. He was charged with “membership of an armed terror organization”. On April 26th, 2013, he was released. In this trial, he faces 7 years 6 months to 15 years in prison. While working at Mezopotamya Agency as reporter, he was arrested again on charges of “membership of an armed terror organization”. He was released at the hearing on March 26th, 2020. His trial continues.

Academic, writer and former columnist at Zaman Daily .Within the scope of the trial against Zaman writers, he was accused of “attempting to abolish the order foreseen by the constitution, the parliament and the government of the Republic of Turkey by use of force and violence” and “armed terrorist organisation membership” for his 7 articles. He faced 3 times aggravated life imprisonment and from 7 years 6 months to 15 years of imprisonment. The court, that oversaw the hearing, resisted the Constitutional Court’s decision for the release of Alpay due to violation of rights. He was released by the second decision of the high court, after 20 months of imprisonment at the age of 74. He was sentenced to 8 years 9 months of imprisonment for “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. Appeal Court, approved the imprisonment sentence. Court of Cassation is examining the case.

Said Sefa was the editor-in-chief of the Haberdar online news portal. A warrant for his arrest was issued on charges of “being affiliated with FETÖ Media Structure”. He could not be detained as he was abroad at the time. The indictment charged him with “attempting to destroy the Government of the Republic of Turkey or to partially or completely prevent it from fulfilling its duties by means of coercion and violence” and “founding or commanding an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Sefa be sentenced to an aggravated life sentence and imprisonment of between 10 years and 15 years. An arrest warrant was issued concerning him during the trial process. At the end of the trial process on 8 March 2018, it was decided to separate the court case concerning him. The warrant for his arrest has not yet been realised.

Academic, rights advocate, forensic scientist. She took part in the Co-Editor-in-Chief on Duty campaign to show solidarity with the Özgür Gündem Daily, against the investigations the paper was facing and to defend the press freedom. She was kept in prison for 10 days in the scope of the investigation opened against her for the articles published during her term as Editor-in-Chief on Duty. She was acquitted of all of the accusations at the 11th hearing of the case at July 17th, 2019, at Istanbul 13th Assize Court, where she was tried along with Erol Önderoğlu and Ahmet Nesin with the accusations of “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation”. However objections were filed against this decision of acquittal. The court of appeal overruled the acquittal verdict on October 20th, 2020, and thus the retrial began.

She was a reporter for Mezapotamya Agency. She was arrested in Ankara on the grounds of “armed terrorist organisation membership” on January 23, 2018. She was accused of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation through media in a successive manner”. She was requested to be sentenced to, from nine years four months 15 days to 28 years one month 15 days of imprisonment. She was sentenced to seven years six months of imprisonment for “knowingly and willingly aiding a terrorist organisation without being a member” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation”. She was released by the appeal court decision on January 17, 2019. After the appeal inspection, she was sentenced to one year 11 months 10 days of imprisonment. Prosecution objected the decision. Appeal inspection of the decision is ongoing at the Court of Cassation.

Journalist/writer. In August 2018, she was accused of “giving false, wrong or deceptive information, tell rumors, give notices, make comments or prepare reports or distribute them in order to affect the prices of capital market instruments, their values or the decisions of investors” with her social media posts regarding the economical crisis and value loss in Turkish Lira. She was requested to be sentenced to, from three years to five years of imprisonment according to the Capital Market Law. She is released pending trial.

Sefer Selvi is a caricaturist. He was prosecuted for his caricatures about the “Paradise Papers” which were leaked documents that revealed politicians were evading taxes through off-shore accounts. He was sentenced to pay 10,000 TL to then Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım as compensation.

Selman Çiçek was a correspondent for the now-closed Dicle News Agency (DİHA), which was shut down with a statutory decree. He was put on trial over social media outputs that included the news report regarding the military operations in Diyarbakır’s Sur district. He was charged with “presenting individuals who served in counterterrorism as potential targets” and “consecutive terrorist organisation propaganda”. The prosecution demanded him to be sentenced to imprisonment of between two years and three months and 11 years and nine months. He was acquitted at the end of the prosecution process, on 18 December 2019. The prosecutor’s office launched an appeal against the ruling. The examination of the court of appeals concerning the ruling is underway.

He was a reporter with the now closed Dihaber. On March 20th, 2017, he was detained in Van. He was arrested on March 31st, 2017 on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organization”. He faces a prison sentence of seven years, six months to 15 years. At the first hearing of the trial on November 21st, 2017, he was released after 241 days of detention. His trial continues without arrest. In addition, he was charged with “publicly insulting the state and the government”, with his news stories published on the now shuttered newspaper Özgürlükçü Demokrasi. He was sentenced to five months in prison. His sentence was deferred.

Semiha Alankuş was the editor for the Dicle News Agency and she remained in pretrial detention for 29 months within the case known as the “KCK Press.” Alankuş is on trial for “being the executive of an illegal organization.”

Semin Sezerer was the managing editor-in-chief of the “Diken” internet news website. He is currently the executive editor of the “Diken” internet news website. He was charged with preparing news reports of the claims on the social media account “Fuat Avni”, which featured heavily on the agenda between 2014 and 2016 with its outputs regarding the government, the judiciary and law enforcement at a time when the Justice and Development Party and the “Fetullah the Gülen Congregation” diverged.

Sezerer was charged with “knowingly and willingly aiding the armed terrorist organisation despite not being its member” over the news reports published on the website containing outputs shared by “Fuat Avni” account and three outputs shared from his personal Twitter account. The prosecution demanded that Sezerer be sentenced to imprisonment of between seven years and six months and 15 years. Sezerer was acquitted at the end of the trial process.

He was a Correspondent and USA Representative for Zaman Newspaper which got shut down. 3 times aggravated life imprisonment punishment was asked for him in the scope of the trial which is known as FETÖ Main Media Case. However he was abroad when the investigations commenced.

Serhat Şeftali was the Antalya Regional Representative of the now-closed Cihan News Agency. He was detained on 27 August 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with the FETO media structure”. He was placed in custody on 5 September 2016 on allegations of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The indictment dated 22 March 2017 charged him with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Şeftali be sentenced to imprisonment of between seven years and 15 years. Şeftali was released pending trial on 29 March 2017 after the indictment was accepted. An arrest warrant was issued over the objection of the prosecutor’s office on 1 April 2017, but Şeftali could not be apprehended. He attended the first hearing of the trial on 11 April 2017. The court ruled that Şeftali be remanded the same day. He was released at the fifth hearing of the trial on 1 February 2018. The trial concerning Şeftali is currently underway. Şeftali is standing trial without remand.

Seyid Kılıç was a correspondent for the TRT News TV channel. He was detained on 26 July 2016 on charges “being affiliated with FETO media organisation”. He was remanded in custody on 29 July 2016. The indictment charged Kılıç with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Kılıç be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. He was released at the hearing of the trial that was held on 31 March 2017. He was placed in custody again the same day over a new investigation commenced concerning him. The second indictment charged Kılıç with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order” and “attempting to destroy the government”. The prosecution demanded that Kılıç be sentenced to two aggravated life sentences. He was sentenced to imprisonment of seven years, six months on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” at the end of the trial process. The ruling was approved by the court of appeals and Court of Cassation. Kılıç has been serving the prison sentence as a convict at Istanbul Silivri Prison.

She was an editor-in-chief, editor and reporter with Özgür Gündem newspaper closed down with a decree law during the State of Emergency. She was taken under custody on December 20th, 2011, under the investigation popularly known as “KCK Press Trial”. She was arrested December 24th, 2011 on charges of “membership of an armed terror organization”. She was released on March 3rd, 2014, but her trial continues. She faces 7 years 6 months to 15 years in prison on these charges.

Şirin Kabakçı has been working as a journalist since 1990. He worked for the Cihan News Agency and the Zaman Newspaper. He was the Konya regional correspondent for the Newspaper. He remained in pretrial detention for a year and 7 months on charges of “being a member of a terrorist organization”, “defamation” and “violation of confidentiality.” His trial goes on.

Danish citizen freelance journalist. Writer at Berlingske Daily, based in Copenhagen. A lawsuit was opened against her for sharing a Danish politicians social media post in her personal account for “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation through media”. Based on one social media publication she was sentenced to 1 year 3 months of imprisonment. The deferred sentence will be taken to the appeal court.

She was the English language editor of Dicle News Agency, which was closed under the State of Emergency by a Decree Law. She was detained on December 20th, 2011 as part of an investigation known amongst the public as the “KCK Press Trial”. She was referred to the court with a request for her arrest on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organization”, but released on December 23rd, 2011. For these charges, she faces a prison sentence of 7 years, 6 months to 15 years. The trial continues.

Tuncer Çetinkaya was the former Antalya Regional Representative of the now-closed Zaman newspaper. He was detained in Antalya on 23 July 2016 on allegations of “being affiliated with the FETO media structure”. He was remanded in custody on 26 July 2016 on allegations of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The indictment dated 22 March 2017 charged him with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Çetinkaya be sentenced to imprisonment of between seven years and 15 years. Çetinkaya was released pending trial on 29 March 2017 after the indictment was accepted. He was remanded again on 1 April 2017 over the objection of the prosecutor’s office. Çetinkaya was sentenced to imprisonment of seven years and six months on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” at the sixth hearing of the trial held on 24 April 2018. Çetinkaya was released pending trial after the ruling, however he was prohibited from travelling abroad. The Court of Appeals’ investigation concerning the ruling is pending.

He was an editor with Özgür Gündem newspaper closed down with a decree law during the State of Emergency. He was taken under custody on December 20th, 2011, under the investigation popularly known as “KCK Press Trial”. He remained in prison for 29 months under this trial. He faces 15 years to 22.5 years in prison for “establishing and leading an armed terror organization”. He is out of prison but his trial continues.

Turhan Günay was the editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper’s book review supplement. He was prosecuted in the Cumhuriyet trial and accused of “aiding a terrorist organization.” He was imprisoned for 9 months. The Constitutional Court ruled that his rights were violated. Günay was acquitted. During his 50-year journalism career he was subjected to 787 trials.

Ufuk Emin Köroğlu is a journalist. He worked for the Sabah Newspaper as a reporter. After the foundation of the Karşı Newspaper, he worked as a reporter for the Karşı Newspaper’s website. He is a fugitive defendant in the Karşı trial.

Ufuk Şanlı was a correspondent for the now-closed Zaman newspaper. He was detained on 27 July 2016 on charges “being affiliated with FETO media organisation”. He was remanded in custody on 29 July 2016. The indictment charged Şanlı with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Şanlı be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. Şanlı was sentenced to imprisonment of seven years, six months on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” at the end of the trial process on 8 March 2018. The ruling was approved by the court of appeals and Court of Cassation. Kılıç has been serving his prison sentence as a convict at Istanbul Silivri Prison.

Managing editor at Sol News website. He is pending trial for an article published on the website on the grounds of “insult” towards Mustafa Doğan İnal, one of President Tayyip Erdoğan’s attorneys. He is requested to be sentenced to, from 1 year 2 months to 2 years 4 months of imprisonment with the accusation of “publicly insulting a public officer due to the performance of his public duty.” At the end of the trial, he was acquitted on 17th November 2020.

Editor in charge of BirGün Daily’s webpage. He is being tried for the article “Berat Albayrak - Özge Ulusoy topic was removed from Ekşi Sözlük” published in BirGün Daily. The case was opened due to the complaint of Minister of Treasury and Finance Berat Albayrak. He is accused of “publicly insulting a public official due to the performance of his public duty”. He is requested to be sentenced to, from 1 year 2 months to 2 years 4 months of imprisonment. They were acquitted at the end of the trial, on November 19th, 2020.

Ünal Tanık was the executive director of the now-closed Rota Haber website. He was detained on 17 January 2017 on the charge of “being affiliated with FETO media organisation”. He was remanded in custody on 18 January 2017. The indictment charged Tanık with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Tanık be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. He was sentenced to imprisonment of seven years and six months on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” at the end of the trial process on 8 March 2018. The ruling was approved by the court of appeals and overturned by the Court of Cassation. Tanık was released on 15 June 2020 by the ruling of the court that conducted the retrial. Tanık is currently undergoing retrial without remand.

Vahit Yazgan was the Aegean Region Representative of the now-closed Zaman newspaper. He was detained in Izmir on 8 August 2016 on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. He was placed in custody on 25 August 2016 on the same charges. The indictment charged Yazgan with “founding or commanding an armed terrorist organisation” on 28 February 2018. At the end of the trial he was sentenced to imprisonment of eight years and nine months on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The decision was approved by the court of appeals and the Court of Cassation. He has been serving his prison sentence in Izmir No.1 F Type Closed Prison since August 2016.

Yakup Çetin was a legal correspondent for the now-closed Zaman newspaper. He was detained on 26 July 2016 on charges “being affiliated with FETÖ media organisation”. He was remanded in custody on 29 July 2016. The indictment charged Çetin with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Çetin be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. He was released at the hearing of the trial that was held on 31 March 2017. Çetin was placed in custody again the same day over a new investigation commenced concerning him. The second indictment charged Çetin with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order” and “attempting to destroy the government”. The prosecution demanded that Çetin be sentenced to two aggravated life sentences. He was sentenced to imprisonment of six years and three months on the charge of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” at the end of the trial process. The ruling was approved by the court of appeals. However, the Court of Cassation overturned the ruling. The local court responsible for the retrial ruled that Çetin be released on 15 June 2020. The retrial concerning Çetin is currently underway.

Was a reporter at Mezapotamya Agency. He was accused of “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation in a successive manner” for his social media posts. He was requested to be sentenced to from one year three months to eight years nine months of imprisonment. He was sentenced to one year six months 22 days. Announcement of the sentence was deferred.

Yetkin Yıldız was the executive director of the Aktif Haber news website, to which access has been restricted. He was detained on 23 July 2016 on charges “being affiliated with FETÖ’s media organisation”. He was remanded in custody on 24 July 2016. The indictment charged Yıldız with “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”. The prosecution demanded that Yıldız be sentenced to imprisonment of between five years and 10 years. He was released at the hearing of the trial that was held on 31 March 2017. Yıldız was placed in custody again the same day over a new investigation commenced concerning him. The second indictment charged Yıldız with “attempting to destroy the constitutional order” and “attempting to destroy the government”. The prosecution demanded that Yıldız be sentenced to two aggravated life sentences. Yıldız was sentenced to imprisonment of seven years and six months on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organisation” at the end of the trial process. The court of appeals approved the ruling. However, the Court of Cassation overturned the ruling. The local court responsible for the retrial ruled that Yıldız be released on 15 June 2020. The retrial concerning Yıldız is currently underway.

Yücel Arı was the news coordinator of the Sözcü newspaper’s online news portal. He is pending trial for “aiding an organization knowingly and willingly, although he does not belong to that structure” within the scope of the trial of Sözcü Newspaper. At the end of the trials he was sentenced to 1 year 13 months of imprisonment for the accused crimes. The verdict was upheld by the court of appeal, and now the appeal process continues at the Court of Cassation.

She was an editor-in-chief with Gündem newspaper and a columnist with Özgür Gündem newspaper closed down with a decree law during the State of Emergency. She was taken under custody on December 20th, 2011, under the investigation popularly known as “KCK Press Trial”. She remained in prison for 29 months under this trial. She faces 15 years to 22.5 years in prison for “establishing and leading an armed terror organization”. She is out of prison but her trial continues.

Reporter at Cumhuriyet Daily. She was accused of “identifying officials on anti-terror duties as targets” through her article published at the paper. She is requested to be sentenced to, from one year to three years of imprisonment. She was requested to be sentenced to, from one year to three years of imprisonment. She was acquitted at the fourth hearing of the case on September 24, 2020.

Correspondent for Fırat News Agency (ANF) and Birgün Newspaper. She was detained on December 24th, 2011 under the scope of the investigation widely known as the “KCK Press” case. She was held under arrest until April 26th, 2013. She is charged with “membership of an armed terrorist organization” and the prosecutor requests a prison sentence between 7 years 6 months to 15 years. Her trial continues.

He was the concessionaire and managing editor of the Özgür Gündem newspaper closed down with a decree law during the State of Emergency. He was taken under custody on December 20th, 2011, under the investigation popularly known as “KCK Press Trial” and released on February 8th, 2013. Çiçekçi is charged with “membership of an armed terror organization” and “violating the Law on Meetings and Protest Rallies”, facing 10 to 19 years in prison in total. He was sentenced to 3 years 9 months in a separate case where he was charged with “spreading propaganda for a terror organization”. The appeal procedure concerning this trial continues at Court of Cassation. He stands trial in other courts for “spreading propaganda for a terror organization”.

She was a reporter, concessionaire and chairperson of the now shuttered Dicle News Agency (DİHA). On December 20th, 2011, she was detained under the scope of the investigation popularly known as “KCK Press” trial and arrested on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist organization”. She was released on February 8th, 2013. Her trial continues and she faces 7 years 6 months to 15 years in prison.