A court in Istanbul ordered the release of Turkish
journalists Baris Terkoglu, and Baris Pehlivan on Friday 14 September 2012.
They were among the journalists accused in the OdaTV case and have spent 578
days in prison. Baris Terkoglu was "adopted" by the Association of Professional
Journalists in Belgium (AGJPB), an EFJ affiliate. Their co-accused, journalist
Soner Yalçi, writer Yalçin Küçük and former police officer Hanefi
Avci have been remanded in custody.
The court decided to commission another report into
llegations of unlawful interference with official records, after inaccuracies
were raised regarding the recent report submitted by Tubitak, the Government's
Scientific Researches Agency. Its report confirmed that contentious documents
on the alleged support for the army's overthrow of the current
Islamic-conservative Turkish Government had been inserted by virus in the
computers, but did not state the means used. The judge ordered a supplement
report from the same organisation to be submitted within 20 days. The previous
one was delivered after seven months.
The court released the two journalists on the account
of the extremely lengthy period of their preventive detention (578 days). They
remain accused, along with 13 other suspects, 3 of whom remain behind bars.
The news of the unexpected releases got a mixed
reception from the public which had gathered in large numbers to support the
accused journalists in front of the Justice Palace in Istanbul. Özge Terkoglu,
Baris Terkoglu's wife, declared in front of the cameras: "The ordealmay be over for my husband and his friend Baris, but
every journalist currently in jail should be free! We won't be fully satisfied
until they're all released but obviously I'm happy to be with my husband again.
Our joy will only be complete when justice is done. We won't stop until
justice prevails!"
The next hearing in this case is to take place on 16
November.
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- Turkish Journalist Baris Terkoglu and Baris Pehlivan Freed after 578 days in jail