Prison sentence requested for journalist Ayşenur Arslan: 'I was misunderstood'
Journalist Ayşenur Arslan has been accused of "propagating for the terrorist organization PKK." The prosecutor has requested a prison sentence ranging from 1 year to 7.5 years for Arslan. Arslan will appear before the judge at the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court in the coming days.
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A lawsuit was filed against Arslan due to statements she made while commenting on the news regarding the terrorist attack on the Ministry of Interior during the opening of Parliament, on a program on Halk TV on October 2, 2023.
A decision of non-prosecution was issued regarding the accusation of "praising crime and criminals" against Ayşenur Arslan.
STATEMENTS USED IN THE PROGRAM CITED AS EVIDENCE
The indictment began by summarizing the history of the PKK and included a transcript of the 1.29-minute segment from the program, which was the only evidence in the case.
In the indictment against journalist Arslan, it was assessed that her words on the program were "of a nature to create chaos and public outrage within society, and were guiding and suggestive regarding actions likely to be carried out by terrorist organizations."
"I WAS MISUNDERSTOOD"
In her statement included in the indictment, journalist Ayşenur Arslan emphasized that her words were misunderstood and stated the following:
"Although my sentences may have exceeded their intended meaning at the point we have reached, the point I meant and wanted to point out was this; the thought occurred to me that it might be a message directed at the newly appointed Minister of Interior following the consecutive operations carried out under his coordination that dealt heavy blows to criminal organizations; because, there have been many operations recently against drug traffickers and profit-oriented criminal organizations. Thinking about the way the act was carried out, I wondered if some criminal groups might be giving a message of intimidation to the police force and the Ministry of Interior by making an analogy. It is out of the question for me to use any expression that glorifies or legitimizes terrorism, neither on the program nor during my statement now. I condemn the act that took place here, just as I did on the program."
STATEMENT FROM LAWYER ÜLGEN
Veteran journalist Ayşenur Arslan's lawyer, Celal Ülgen, stated in his explanation to B Yüzü that if an indictment had been prepared against Arslan for praising crime and criminals, the trial would have been held in a criminal court of first instance.
Ülgen stated the following:
"While the political power is pursuing a policy of softening on one hand, it is introducing significant penalties for some acts in the nature of 'influence agency' in a bill following Article 339 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) on the other. Since these two attitudes cannot be correct together, one of them must certainly be wrong. There is no need to look too hard. It is not possible to be on the side of a new type of espionage institution that introduces a new criminal sanction."