The first hearing of the case against Mesopotamia Agency (MA) reporters Adnan Bilen and Cemil Uğur, Jinnews reporter Şehriban Abi and journalist Nazan Sala, who were arrested on 9 October 2020 after they reported the torture of 2 citizens thrown from the military helicopter in Van, and MA reporter Zeynep Durgut who stand trial without arrest, charged with "being a member of a terrorıst organization" was held today. 

 

Following Adnan Bilen, journalist Nazan Sala made her defense at the hearing held at the Van 5th Criminal Court.

 

NAZAN SALA: YELLOW CARD SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT

 

Expressing that journalistic activities were put on trial in her defense, Sala reacted against the indictment where they were not considered as  journalists due to the fact that they dont hold a yellow press card, although she had been a journalist for 15 years.

 

Sala said that the yellow press card she had between 2010 and 2017 was canceled when the newspaper was closed with a Decree-Law in 2017, where she was working, and she reacted to the evaluation of whether she is a journalist on this card today, saying that "the yellow press card is not a card to be taken into account".

 

Explaining that after the 2019 local elections, she was the director of the Van Metropolitan Municipality press unit until a trustee was appointed to the municipality, Nazan Salan said "When I was dismissed from my job, I applied to the court. During this period, I tried to work as a freelance journalist. I worked for a news agency with legal status, which has representation and reporters in many places. I won my case and got reinstated. Then I was arrested. If my workplace was to be raided, the municipality should have been raided." 

 

CHARGES AGAINST HAVING THE NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE

 

Sala also criticized the fact that some of her news were added to the indictment selectively, although she was reporting on many different topics, including the pandemic. Referring to the newspaper archive that was seized during the raid on her house, Sala continued "I have an archive of 10 newspapers published between 2010 and 2016. These are found as a criminal element in the indictment. There is no confiscation order for the newspapers. Is there anything as normal as having a newspaper in a journalist's archive?" she asked.

 

Sala, who also stated that she has shared nearly 300 posts on her Twitter account and tweeted on many issues ranging from child abuse to workplace homicide, however, noted that the prosecution purposefully selected only a few of these posts and included them in the indictment as evidence of a crime.

 

TO THE COURT: YOU WILL NOT BE FREE

 

Nazan Sala, when the Chief Judge tried to interrupt by saying "Do not go into criminal things", continued her defense as follows: If there was a serious inquiry, it would be understood that I have not posted, there are things that appear on my page because I have been tagged. They are considered a crime. We have been in prison for six months. I have to take medication because of the surgeries I have been in. After the third month, I was able to get a European apparatus. I was faced with serious health problems. I was in quarantine when I came to prison. There are also days or even months left. I was able to lead my life through my friends in the wing. There is an intervention against journalists, especially Kurdish journalists. If the press is not free in a country, nobody will be free, and you will not be. I want my release and acquittal."

 

Independent MP Ahmet Şık also attended the hearing during Nazan's defense.

 

The trial continues with the defense of detained journalist Şehriban Abi.