The third hearing of the trial against Velat Öztekin, former journalist of Azadiya Welat, a paper closed by Decree Law (Decree), was held at Diyarbakır 9th High Criminal Court. Öztekin is on trial for posts he published on social media between 2015 and 2016 and is accused of "making propaganda for a terrorist organization". The journalist did not attend the hearing while his lawyer Resul Tamur was present.

Tried for being a journalist

The prosecution, which presented its opinion on the merits at the previous hearing, demanded that Öztekin be sentenced to 1 to 5 years in prison for "making chain propaganda". Lawyer Temur, who defended the opinion on the merits, said that Öztekin was an employee of the newspaper at that time and that his posts were within the scope of his journalistic activities. Lawyer Temur requested the journalist acquittal, stating that his client's posts were within the scope of "freedom of expression".

Sentence

The court board sentenced Öztekin to 1 year, 6 months and 22 days for "making propaganda for a terrorist organization" and decided to delay the reasoning of the verdict.