New trial against Ahmet Şık

CANAN ÇOŞKUN
 
A trial has been filed against our reporter Ahmet Şık, who has been in detention for 371 days due to his news reports and social media posts, into his Twitter posts that were reported by Anadolu Agency (AA) reporter Kerem Kocalar saying, “For the sake of God examine them.” In the indictment the prosecution has drafted, Şık’s imprisonment for up to two years is sought on the charge of “denigrating the Turkish people, the state of the Republic of Turkey and state institutions and organs.”
 
According to documents contained in Şık’s file that was joined with the main Cumhuriyet trial, AA reporter Kerem Kocalar reported Ahmet Şık’s Twitter account to the Prime Ministerial Communications Centre on 28 November 2015. Kocalar commented in the text of his tip-off, “I request that tweets sent by the person named Ahmet Şık who describes himself as being a journalist on Twitter where he has a social media account and whose email address is xxxxxxyandex.com be looked into, because the man is publicly threatening the state and I think he is posting content in support of terrorism. For the sake of God, investigate the person with the user name sahmetsahmet.” In response to the complaint by Kocalar, who lives in Gaziantep, an investigation was launched into Şık there. The Gaziantep Police Directorate Anti-Cyber Crime Branch Directorate compiled a report alleging that Şık’s messages about Tahir Elçi’s murder, the probe launched into the comment made by teacher Ayşe Çelik when she phoned into Kanal D and the peace academics constituted elements of crime. Following the remittal of the file to Istanbul under a non-territorial jurisdiction decision, Şık was interrogated at Istanbul Republic Prosecution on 7 November 2016 as part of an investigation launched on the charge of “making a terrorist organisation’s propaganda.” Şık said that the Twitter account was his and the posts over which charges had been raised were within the bounds of freedom of speech.
 
Press Crimes Investigation Office prosecutor Asım Ekren, arguing in the indictment that freedom of speech was subject to a whole host of restrictions, stated, “The limitations in the matters of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, crime prevention, blocking the revealing of secret news and ensuring the supremacy and impartiality of the judicial power must be interpreted narrowly and convincingly.” Ekren, listing examples form Court of Cassation Joint Penal Chambers and European Court of Human Rights rulings on press freedom, asserts that Şık’s posts exceeded the bounds of freedom of speech. The indictment has been accepted by Istanbul Penal Court of First Instance No 17.