Indictment against journalists prepared after 10 months

An indictment has been prepared against journalists Safiye Alağaş and Gülşen Koçuk after 10 months.

News Center- An indictment has been prepared by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against Safiye Alağaş, director of the women's news agency JINNEWS and Gülşen Koçuk, editor of JINNEWS, after 10 months.

Safiye Alağaş and Gülşen Koçuk were detained along with 18 journalists on June 8, 2022 as part of an investigation launched by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. While Safiye Alağaş was sent to prison on June 16 on charges of “membership of a terrorist organization”, Gülşen Koçuk was released under judicial control by the court. After 10 months, an indictment has been prepared against them by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. A date will be set up for the first hearing of two journalists after the court accepts the indictment.

The names of journalists imprisoned pending trial on charges of “membership of a terrorist organization” are: Safiye Alağas, director of the women's news agency JINNEWS; Serdar Altan, co-chair of the Dicle and Firat Journalists Association (DFG); Aziz Oruç, the editor of the Mezopotamya Agency (MA); Mehmet Ali Ertaş, editor-in-chief of the Kurdish newspaper Xwebûn, as well as Zeynel Abidin Bulut, Ömer Celik, Mazlum Doğan Güler, İbrahim Koyuncu, Neşe Toprak, Elif Üngür, Abdurrahman Öncü, Suat Doğuhan, Remziye Temel, Ramazan Geciken, Lezgin Akdeniz and Mehmet Şahin.

The names of journalists released under judicial control are: Gülşen Koçuk, Esmer Tunç, Mehmet Yalçın, Kadir Bayram, Feynaz Koçuk and İhsan Ergülen.

The first hearing will be held on July 11

On April 16, 2023, the Diyarbakır 4th Criminal Court accepted the indictment prepared against other journalists. The journalists face prison sentences on charges of “membership of a terrorist organization”. The first hearing of the trial will be held on July 11, 2023.