On 23 January, two journalists filed a criminal complaint at the Çağlayan (Istanbul) Courthouse on the grounds of the news published about them during their time in police custody.

Arzu Demir, editor of the Etkin News Agency (ETHA), and Dicle News Agency (DİHA) reporter Evrim Kepenk, were taken into police custody and later on released in the scope of an operation against the Union of Kurdish Communities (KCK), the umbrella organization that includes the outlawed separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

48 people, most of them journalists, were taken into custody on 20 December. 36 of them were arrested whereas Demir and Kepenk were released.

Both journalists filed a criminal complaint against the newspapers Zaman, Yeni Şafak, Sabah and Star and a number of columnists under allegations of "influencing a fair trial" and "violating the presumption of innocence". The newspapers had labelled the journalists as "terrorists" while they were in custody.

In a statement issued in front of the courthouse after the complaint was submitted, Demir said that they defended themselves in custody without knowing the charges pressed against them due to a decision of confidentiality on their files. Not even the lawyers were able to see the file. Demir drew attention to the reporting of certain newspapers that wrote sentences like "They are not journalists but terrorists" or "The largest pillar of the PKK has fallen"

Demir demanded to release her colleagues immediately and to remove the Anti-Terror Law (TMK) and the Special Authority Courts as the greatest obstacles before freedom of expression.

The complaint was lodged about the following people:

Feza Journalism editor-in-chief Ekrem Dumanlı; journalist Fazlı Mert; responsible manager Gürdal Gürler on behalf of Koza İpek Journalism and Publishing Inc; journalist Bilal Şahin; Tevhit Karakaya on behalf of Star Media Publishing Inc.; editor-in-chief Mustafa Karaalioğlu; journalist Kemal Gümüş; Ahmet Albayrak on behalf of Diyalog Journalism; editor-in-chief Yusuf Ziya Cömert; Yusuf Gülbakan, İlhan Toprak and Ahmet Çalık on behalf of Turkuvaz Newspaper Magazine Press Inc.; editor-in-chief Erdal Şafak; writer Ersin Ramoğlu; journalists Ufuk Emir Köroğlu and Gülcan Demir. (NV/VK)

* Source: ETHA.

* Photograph: DİHA