Sentenced

Journalists in court An Istanbul court on November 5 convicted Yasir Kaya, a sports journalist formerly with Fenerbahçe TV or FBTV, of “being a member of a [terrorist] organization” and sentenced him to six years and three months in prison, according to reports. Kaya remained free pending appeal, according to the report. CPJ previously documented…

Journalist sentenced to over 7 years in jail A court in the eastern Muş city on October 10 sentenced Seda Taşkın, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency (MA), to a total of seven years and six months in prison, her employer reported. Taşkın attended the hearing via teleconference from the Sincan Women’s Prison,…

Erdoğan in Germany A Turkish man wearing a “freedom for journalists” T-shirt was thrown out of a press conference between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on September 28, video from Euronews and Özgürüz showed. The man was identified as Adil Yiğit, chief editor for the Turkish language news website…

Istanbul, October 3, 2018–An Istanbul court of appeals yesterday upheld the sentences of life in prison without parole handed to four prominent Turkish journalists in February, media reported. Mehmet Altan, his brother Ahmet Altan, Nazlı Ilıcak, and Fevzi Yazıcı were convicted of having links to the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom Turkey accuses of being…

Court finds journalists guilty of making propaganda for terrorists A court on September 19 found the directors of the shuttered socialist television channel Hayatın Sesi TV guilty of making propaganda for terrorist organisations, the daily Evrensel reported.

Bogotá, Colombia, August 15, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today welcomed the conviction and sentencing of the organizer of the 1999 murder of Colombian journalist, comedian, and peace activist Jaime Garzón, and expressed disappointment that the court did not consider Garzon’s work as a journalist in its decision.

Hanoi, July 26, 2018–A Sichuan province court on July 13 sentenced Chinese freelance political cartoonist Jiang Yefei to prison for six years and six months on charges of “inciting subversion of state power,” and “illegally crossing a national border,” during a secret trial, according to the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Asia and the independent news…

Journalists in court An Istanbul court today found Canan Coşkun, a court reporter with the daily Cumhuriyet, guilty of “making targets of those assigned to combat terrorism” and sentenced her to two years and three months in prison, her employer reported. She is not in government custody, the report stated.

New York, July 11, 2018–A Tajik court today found independent journalist Khayrullo Mirsaidov guilty of embezzling and misusing state fund and false reporting to police and sentenced him to 12 years in a high-security prison, according to media reports and the journalist’s friends with whom CPJ spoke. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the ruling…

Journalist arrested A court on June 11 ordered Berzan Güneş, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya news agency, to be arrested pending trial, his employer reported. The indictment accused Güneş of “making propaganda for a [terrorist] organisation” and presented as evidence the journalist’s social media posts, going back to 2014, according to the report. The…