Turkey: 6 journalists on trial for revealing the identity of secret agents in Libya

Text by: Anne Andlauer

It is a lawsuit that makes a lot of noise in Turkey, a country where journalists are used to the courts. This Wednesday, June 24, an Istanbul assize court begins to judge six journalists accused of revealing the identity of secret service agents killed in Libya, where Turkey intervened militarily to support the Government of national unity . In preventive detention since the beginning of March, they risk a heavy sentence, up to 19 years in prison.

Publicity

Six investigative journalists, known for having exposed several scandals in their careers, appear this time together. The prosecution accuses them of having "  published, propagated and revealed information on the identity, mission and activities of members of the National Intelligence Organization  ".

In this case, to have written on the funeral of a secret service agent killed in early February in Libya , with one of his colleagues. Rumors about the deaths of these two agents - with their name and photo - had circulated on social media before the journalists published their articles. The defense denounces a "  political trial  ". She believes that these journalists employed by opposition media - some of whom have already been imprisoned for their writings - have long been in the sights of the authorities, and that this affair is only a pretext to silence them.

Discretionary measures in detention

Incarcerated in the midst of a health crisis linked to the Covid-19 epidemic , these journalists plan to denounce their conditions of detention at the hearing. During most of these three and a half months of confinement, they were unable to receive any visits, like the other detainees. But above all they denounce discretionary measures against them and infringements of the rights of the defense. For example, not only were the six journalists placed in solitary confinement in individual cells, but the prison administration ensured that a cell was left empty between their respective cells to prevent them from arguing through the walls.

The journalists also accuse the authorities of having refused to transmit certain documents which they intended to their lawyers to help them prepare their defense. Finally, one of them, Baris Pehlivan, claimed to have been subjected to violence by a guard. Charges then confirmed by a video posted on social networks.

Journalists' judgments on unprecedented bases

Today, around 100 journalists are imprisoned in Turkey. Trials of this kind are common. But this is indicative of a recent phenomenon in terms of attacks on press freedom. In recent years, journalists in Turkey have not only been prosecuted on the basis of anti-terrorist laws or articles of the criminal code. They are also tried on unprecedented bases, such as the law on the National Intelligence Organization, in this example, or the law on capital markets.

Six journalists and thirty-two Internet users risk, for example, up to five years in prison for covering the Turkish financial crisis in 2018. Their trial, which opened last September, illustrates a disturbing tendency to criminalize journalism - too - economic.

► Read also: Turkey: court orders the release of five journalists from “Cumhuriyet”

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• Turkey
• Freedom of press
• Recep Tayyip Erdogan

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