Türkiye: 22nd hearing for RSF representative — the judicial harassment must stop
Erol Onderoglu, Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’s representative in Türkiye, will once again appear before the judges of the Istanbul Assize Court on 15 October for having participated in a solidarity campaign supporting the pro-Kurdish opposition daily Özgür Gündem in May 2016, along with his two co-defendants: human rights defender Sebnem Korur Fincanci and journalist and writer Ahmet Nesin.
"With 22 court appearances for a symbolic campaign in favor of media pluralism, our representative in Türkiye is entering his ninth year of unjust legal proceedings. This trial illustrates not only the political interference that permeates judicial matters but also the Sword of Damocles hanging over RSF's activities in Türkiye. We urge the Turkish judiciary to acquit Erol Onderoglu once and for all and end this legal harassment.
An overturned acquittal
In May 2016, Erol Onderoglu and around fifty other prominent figures took turns acting as symbolic daily guest editors of Özgür Gündem ("Free Agenda"), a newspaper persecuted by the Turkish authorities. Due to the articles published during this support campaign, Onderoglu and two other guest editors, Sebnem Korur Fincanci and Ahmet Nesin, are now being prosecuted for “terrorist propaganda”, “praising a crime or criminal”, and “condoning a crime”. These charges are punishable by up to 14 years and six months in prison under Anti-Terror Law No. 3713 and the Turkish penal code.
Onderoglu and his co-defendants were initially acquitted in July 2019, at the end of a first trial marked by numerous postponements. The decision was overturned in October 2020, a week after President Erdogan publicly attacked one of the co-accused, Fincanci, claiming she was a "terrorist." The Istanbul Court of Appeal rejected the symbolic nature of the campaign to support the newspaper and considered that the three cases should have been processed together with the case against the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Inan Kizilkaya. In February 2021, the Istanbul Assize Court was ordered to resume the entire procedure, trying the three co-accused on the same charges.
"I am greatly concerned that anti-terrorism laws are being used extensively to silence Turkish human rights defenders and disrupt their legitimate work defending human rights," alerted UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Mary Lawlor in June 2021, citing the case of Onderoglu, Fincanci, and Nesin, among others.
Rejected request to dismiss a biased judge
The court rejected the request to dismiss Judge Murat Bircan — who presides over the 13th chamber of the Istanbul Assize Court — due to his very close links with President Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), filed at the end of April 2024 by Onderoglu's lawyers. The court is awaiting the deposition of Nesin — who lives in France — and the testimony of Kizilkaya, who has been summoned as a witness.
The 13th chamber of the Istanbul Assize Court is the same chamber that sentenced philanthropist and activist Osman Kavala to life imprisonment and seven other environmental activists to 18 years in prison for "attempting to destabilize the government" on 25 April 2022. The accused were involved in an environmental protection movement concerning Gezi Park, near Istanbul's Taksim Square.
RSF’s representative in Türkiye since February 1996, Erol Onderoglu is a journalist and fervent defender of press freedom who has received several international awards. His rigor and honest reporting, recognized around the world, have made him a leading figure in Türkiye.
