News Centre
BirGün Board Chairman İbrahim Aydın, birgun.net Publication Coordinator Uğur Koç and former birgun.net Editor-in-Chief Yaşar Gökdemir, who are on trial for a news story mentioning İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek, had their trial postponed to 22 October.
Aydın, Koç, Gökdemir and their lawyer Sevgi Kalan Güvercin attended the second hearing of the case, which was heard today at the İstanbul 23rd Heavy Penal Court.
During the hearing, the prosecutor requested that the request of İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek and his lawyer to join the case be accepted.
Presenting his opinion on the merits of the case, the prosecutor requested that the journalists be punished separately for the charges.
Lawyer Güvercin requested additional time to prepare a defence against the opinion and requested that the judicial control measure in the form of a travel ban on Koç and Gökdemir be lifted.
The court accepted Akın Gürlek and his lawyer’s request to participate in the trial and decided to continue the travel ban on Koç and Gökdemir.
The court adjourned the next hearing until Wednesday, 22 October, at 11:20 a.m.
PRISON SENTENCE REQUESTED
Aydın, Koç and Gökdemir are facing prison sentences of between two and five years on charges of “publicly insulting a public official” and “targeting terrorist organisations”.
In addition, it is requested that İbrahim Aydın be deprived of certain rights under Article 53 of the Turkish Penal Code, known as the “political ban”.
WHAT HAPPENED?
birgun.net Publication Coordinators Uğur Koç and Berkant Gültekin, along with Editor-in-Chief Yaşar Gökdemir, were detained on 8 February 2025 for reporting on the visit of the Sabah newspaper to Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek. The three were taken to court the next day, where Berkant Gültekin was released by the prosecutor’s office, while Uğur Koç and Yaşar Gökdemir were released by the magistrate’s court with a travel ban and judicial control measures requiring them to sign in.
On 8 February 2025, a decision was made that there were no grounds for prosecution against Berkant Gültekin, the Publication Coordinator of birgun.net, who had been detained alongside Uğur Koç and Yaşar Gökdemir.
Source: BirGün yöneticilerinin yargılandığı dava ertelendi: Savcılık cezalandırma talep etti
