Joint Statement Cumhuriyet trial, 26 April 2017

We, the undersigned freedom of expression and human rights organisations, strongly condemn last night’s guilty verdicts for staff and journalists of Cumhuriyet newspaper and note the harsh sentences for the defendants. The verdict further demonstrates that Turkey’s justice system and the rule of law is failing: this was a trial where the ‘crime’ was journalism and the only ‘evidence’ was journalistic activities.

While three Cumhuriyet staff were acquitted, all the remaining journalists and executives were handed sentences of between 2 years, 6 months and 8 years, 1 month. Time already served in pretrial detention will likely be taken into consideration, however all will still have jail terms to serve, and those with the harshest sentences would still have to serve approximately 5 years. Travel bans have been placed on all defendants, barring the three that were acquitted, in a further attempt to silence them in the international arena.

Several of our organisations have been present to monitor and record the proceedings since the first hearing in July 2017. The political nature of the trial was clear from the outset and continued throughout the trial. The initial indictment charged the defendants with a mixture of terrorism and employment related offenses. However, the evidence presented did not stand the test of proof beyond reasonable doubt of internationally recognizable crimes. The prosecution presented alleged changes to the editorial policy of the paper and the content of articles as ‘evidence’ of support for armed terrorist groups. Furthermore, despite 17 months of proceedings, no credible evidence was produced by the prosecution during the trial.

The indictment, the pre-trial detention and the trial proceedings violated the human rights of the defendants, including the right to freedom of expression, the right to liberty and security and the right to a fair trial. Furthermore, the symbolic nature of this trial against Turkey’s most prominent opposition newspaper undoubtedly has a chilling effect on the right to free expression much more broadly in Turkey and restricts the rights of the population to access information and diverse views.

“We observed violations of the right to a fair trial throughout the hearings. Despite the defence lawyers arguing that the basic requirements for a fair trial, such as an evidence-based indictment, were lacking these arbitrary sentences were handed down in order to attempt to intimidate one of the last remaining bastions of the independent press in Turkey,” said Turkey Advocacy Coordinator, Caroline Stockford.

The defence team repeatedly relied on the rights enshrined in the Turkish Constitution, as well as the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, demonstrating the importance of European human rights law to Turkey’s domestic legal system.

“‘Journalism is not a crime’ was declared again and again by the defendants and their lawyers and yet, despite the accusations containing no element of crime, the defendants served a collective total of 9.5 years in pretrial detention, and were found guilty at the end of an unfair trial,” said Jennifer Clement, President of PEN International.

Speedy rulings on legal cases of Turkish journalists, which include the Cumhuriyet cases of Murat Sabuncu and others and staff writer Ahmet Şık cases, pending before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) are crucial. This is not only to redress the rights violations of the many journalists still languishing in detention, but also to defend the independence and impartiality of the judiciary itself in Turkey. The Cumhuriyet case and other prominent trials against journalists clearly demonstrate that the rule of law is totally compromised in Turkey then there is little hope for fair or speedy domestic judicial recourse for any defendant.

“The short three hours of deliberation by the judicial panel did not give the impression that the case was taken seriously. The 17 months during which there have been 7 hearings of this utterly groundless trial have damaged independent journalism in Turkey at a time when over 90% of the media is under the sway of the administration,” said Nora Wehofsits, Advocacy Officer, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF).

The guilty verdicts against the Cumhuriyet journalists and executives must be overturned and the persecution of all other journalists and others facing criminal charges merely for doing their job and peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression must be stopped. The authorities must immediately lift the state of emergency and return to the rule of law. The independence of the Turkish courts must be reinstated, enabling it to act as a check on the government, and hold it accountable for the serious human rights violations it has committed and continues to commit.

In light of the apparent breakdown of the rule of law and the fact that Turkish courts are evidently unable to deliver justice, we also call on the ECtHR to fulfil its role as the ultimate guardian of human rights in Europe, and to rule swiftly on the free expression cases currently pending before it and provide an effective remedy for the severe human rights violations taking place in Turkey.

Furthermore, we call on the institutions of the Council of Europe and its member states to remind Turkey of its international obligation to respect and protect human rights, in particular the right to freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial, and to give appropriate priority to these issues in their relations with Turkey, both in bilateral and multilateral forums. In addition, the Council of Europe’s member states should provide adequate support to the ECtHR.

We also call on the European and International media to continue to support their Turkish colleagues and to give space to dissenting voices who are repressed in Turkey.

Amnesty International

Article 19

Articolo 21

Association of European Journalists (AEJ)

Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI)

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

English PEN

European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)

European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)

Freedom House

Global Editors Network

Index on Censorship

Initiative for Freedom of Expression

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)

International Press Institute (IPI)

Italian Press Federation

Norwegian PEN

P24

PEN America

PEN Belgium-Flanders

PEN Centre Germany

PEN Canada

PEN International

PEN Netherlands

Reporters without Borders

SEEMO

The Research Institute on Turkey

WAN-ifra

Cartoonists Rights Network International is shocked to learn that the judicial system in Turkey has levied what amounts to draconian prison sentences on the Cumhuriyet newspaper journalists who have been falsely accused of aiding and abetting a terrorist organization.

Among those sentenced is our client, cartoonist Musa Kart, sentenced to 3 years 9 months, who, along with his colleagues, will remain free, but under court restrictions, pending appeal. Musa is the winner of the CRNI 2005 Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning.

He and the other journalists sentenced with him have been critics of Turkey’s leadership for more than ten years. The international human rights organizations monitoring the trial of these journalists all conclude that the charges against these journalists have been spurious and unfounded, and the judicial process a sham.

We will report more on Musa’s situation as events unfold.

We call on the government of Turkey to rescind all of these prison sentences, recognize its international obligations to free speech and a free press, and restore these journalists to their families.

A Turkish court has sentenced 13 journalists to prison on terrorism charges, in a case that has sparked global outrage over press freedom.

The journalists were employees of the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper, which had taken a strong line against the Turkish government.

Three of the journalists on trial were acquitted. Those convicted remain free while an appeal is pending.

They were arrested during a crackdown after a failed coup in July 2016.

Turkish authorities have accused Cumhuriyet’s staff of supporting groups it has labelled terror organisations, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), ultra-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, and the cleric Fetullah Gulen, who Ankara accuses of masterminding the failed coup.

Mr Gulen is living in self-imposed exile in the US, where authorities have refused to extradite him to Turkey.

More than 50,000 people were arrested and 150,000 sacked or suspended from their jobs in the aftermath of the attempted coup, including journalists, police, military personnel, teachers and public servants.

The 13 journalists and executives convicted on Wednesday include some of the country’s most prominent commentators, such as editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, cartoonist Musa Kart and columnist Kadri Gursel.

The paper’s chairman, Akin Atalay was sentenced to seven years in prison, after already serving 500 days.

Founded in 1924, Cumhuriyet had maintained fierce independence in an increasingly state-controlled media environment, drawing the ire of Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In a front page editorial ahead of the court hearing on Wednesday, the paper wrote: “Enough is enough with this cruelty.” After the verdict, its website read: “You will be shamed in front of history.”

Mr Erdogan has been accused of cracking down on press freedom in the country. In March, 25 journalists were jailed for alleged links to Mr Gulen.

This case caused outrage internationally, with human rights groups accusing the Turkish government of suppressing the media.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the convictions and called for all of those found guilty to be freed immediately.

“Turkish authorities must stop equating journalism with terrorism, and release the scores of press workers jailed for doing their job,” CPJ Europe and Central Asia programme co-ordinator Nina Ognianova said in a statement in March.

Renowned Turkish cartoonist Musa Kart was among the journalists from opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet put on trial over the last year by the Erdogan government.  He and his coworkers at the paper, one of Turkey’s oldest independent newspapers, are facing charges of aiding terrorist organizations.

Kart said the following at the close of the trial.

“I’ve been drawing cartoons for over 40 years. I have witnessed different political eras and leaders in these years. In terms of law and justice this is the worst period of all. Since my release I have talked to many people, not one described this as a non-political trial. During this trial these rooms have witnessed the dignity of honourable and honest people. Those who tried to victimize us in a smear campaign did not know that our fabric does not stain. I have no further demand for myself here in this final hearing. I have to say again, the picture that shows opposition journalists, politicians, academics, and students in prison does not suit my beautiful country.”