As part of an Ankara-based investigation, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) Managing Editor Diren Yurtsever, MA reporters Berivan Altan, Deniz Nazlım, Selman Güzelyüz, Hakan Yalçın, Ceylan Şahinli, Emrullah Acar and JinNews reporters Habibe Eren and Öznur Değer as well as Mehmet Günhan were detained on October 25, 2022 (October 25).
Having testified at the Ankara Courthouse, MA Managing Editor Diren Yurtsever, MA reporters Berivan Altan, Deniz Nazlım, Selman Güzelyüz, Hakan Yalçın, Ceylan Şahinli, Emrullah Acar and JinNews reporters Habibe Eren and Öznur Değer were arrested on charge of “membership of a terrorist organization” (October 29).
2023
At the first hearing on May 16, Deniz Nazlım, Selman Güzelyüz, Mehmet Günhan, Hakan Yalçın and Zemo Ağgöz were released (May 16).
On July 5, during the second hearing, the court ruled for the continuation of judicial control measures and rejected the journalists’ request for exemption. The request for the return of digital materials was rejected and the case was adjourned to October 26, 2023 (July 5).
The fifth and final hearing of the case was held on July 3 at the Ankara 4th High Criminal Court. The court ruled that Habibe Eren, Ceylan Şahinli and Mehmet Günhan be acquitted, and that Diren Yurtsever, Berivan Altan, Selman Güzelyüz, Hakan Yalçın, Emrullah Acar, Zemo Ağgöz, Deniz Nazlım and Öznur Değer be sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison each (July 3).
The prosecutor appealed the acquittal decision for Habibe Eren, Mehmet Günhan, and Ceylan Şahinli and took the case to the appellate court. The prosecutor requested that they be punished on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization”. The High Criminal Court announced the reasoned decision for the 6-year, 3-month prison sentences given to Selman Güzelyüz, Berivan Altan, Diren Yurtsever, Hakan Yalçın, Emrullah Acar, Zemo Ağgöz and Deniz Nazlım for ‘membership in a terrorist organization.’ The court evaluated the money transfers between journalists, news about the isolation, social media posts, books and magazines seized by the police during house raids, and the Human Rights Association’s (HRA) reports on sick prisoners as elements of a crime (July 23).
