Journalist Barış Pehlivan released

Journalist Barış Pehlivan had his right to supervised release revoked following a lawsuit filed by Court of Cassation member Ömer Faruk Aydıner due to his article titled "A Stomach-Turning Story" published on November 30, 2022.

Recently, Ömer Faruk Aydıner notified the court through his lawyer that he was withdrawing his complaint. Following Aydıner's withdrawal of the complaint, the path to Pehlivan's release was cleared.

With the court hearing held yesterday, the case was dismissed. A decision for supervised release was also issued for Pehlivan.

Pehlivan's lawyer, Hüseyin Ersöz, announced the supervised release decision regarding Pehlivan as follows:

"The Istanbul Anatolian 4th Execution Judgeship has issued a Supervised Release Decision for journalist Barış Pehlivan. The decision has been sent to the Maltepe Open Penal Execution Institution. Barış Pehlivan will be released from prison shortly."

RELEASED

Journalist Barış Pehlivan has been released from the Maltepe Open Penal Execution Institution, where he was being held.

FIRST STATEMENT AFTER RELEASE

Pehlivan said the following after his release:

"I have gone through a process that should never have happened for 3 months. Unfortunately, this government and the judicial system put me in prison for 3 months. They denied me the right to supervised release that I deserved. We fought a serious battle to defend this right. In the end, with the dismissal of a case, I was granted supervised release. Compared to the rot in the judiciary, this is like a grain of sand in the ocean. It does not solve the pressures on journalists in Turkey. Mine is just a small symbol.

I hope we reach a Turkey where we experience such processes less. I will continue to practice journalism just as I did yesterday. I would like to thank everyone who supported me during this process."