Journalist Güler On Trial For Passing Information About Military Operation

Dicle News Agency (DİHA) Van Region Representative Sıddık Güler, former Party Assembly member for the Democratic Society Party (DTP) Alattin Ege,  DTP’s Çukurca District Head Mehmet Kanar and a parson named Muğdat Aslan are on trial for “revealing a cross-border land operation that was conducted secretly.”

The accused are on trial at Van’s 3rd High Criminal Court for “being members in an armed organization” and “helping a [terrorist] organization willingly and knowingly”; they are facing jail sentences from six months to 12,5 years.

He was kept arrested for 16 days; he was released; he is now a suspect

Journalist Güler was at the court with other accused Kanar and his lawyers. Güler was apprehended while on his way to Hakkari in the eastern Turkey to report an incident. He was kept for 16 days and released pending trial.

He is accused for passing information to the ROJ TV

Saying that he was doing his job as a journalist, Güler has asked for his acquittal. Güler is accused for passing  the information he received about the operation from the DTP authorities to the pro-Kurdish Roj TV in Europe.

The court was adjourned until October 7 to inspect the evidence. It also decided that Ege and Aslan were to be brought to the court by force and Kanar’s arrest was to continue.

Güler is on trial for article 220/7 (“The person who helps [a terrorist] organization willing and knowingly will be punished as a member of the organization, even though he may not appear in the hierarchy of the organization”) and article 314 (“Those who are members of [a terrorist] organization will receive sentences from five to ten years”) of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). (EÖ/EÜ/TB)