Alican Uludağ, a court reporter for the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, was detained by police at his house in Ankara on February 19, 2026. He was transferred to Istanbul, where the next day a court arrested him pending trial.
He was imprisoned on suspicion of “insulting” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan because of several posts on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
On March 30, Uludağ was indicted and formally charged with insulting the president and the judiciary alongside spreading disinformation. The first hearing of his trial was held in Ankara on May 15 despite the journalist being held at Silivri Prison in Istanbul. The social media posts included as evidence by the prosecution were critical of the president and his policies.
The court released Uludağ pending trial and said the next hearing would be on September 18.
Uludağ was again taken into police custody in Ankara on July 21, 2026 on suspicions of “publicly spreading disinformation” and “provoking the people into animosity and hatred” after he posted another critical post on X. This time he posted about alleged irregularities by the Turkish judiciary and police during arrests and prosecutions He was released the next day, pending investigation.
In his testimony to the arresting court in February, Uludağ denied any wrongdoing, saying: “If we cannot criticize the judiciary, members of the judiciary, [and] the president of the country, why are we practicing journalism?”
Lawyers for Uludağ said in early March that their appeal of his arrest had been rejected by an Istanbul court. On March 17, after an Istanbul court extended his detention, Uludağ said in a letter from prison that he had been denied his right to a defense.
CPJ’s emailed request for comment from the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office in July 2026 did not receive a reply.