Having covered the protests against the G20 Summit in Antalya province on November 15-16, 2015, Sema Karakurt, a former reporter for local Antalya Sokakları news website, and Eylem Sonbahar, a reporter for Dokuz8 news website, are on trial along with 15 others on charge of “violating the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations”.

The 12th hearing of the case was held at the Antalya 7th Criminal Court of First Instance on January 11, 2022. The prosecutor’s office pronounced its final opinion as to the accusations. Noting that the related meeting and demonstration was not in breach of the law and the law enforcement did not make a warning of dispersal, the office demanded that the two journalists and the other 13 defendants be acquitted as the elements of the crime were not constituted. 

The court accepted the request for separating the files of two people. The next hearing is on February 15 (January 11). 

At the hearing held on February 15, 2022, the court concluded that the actions attributed to the defendants were not defined as a crime in the law and ruled that Karakurt and Sonbahar should be acquitted (February 15).