Beritan Canözer has been working as a journalist in Turkey for ten years. Her home was searched six times by the police, she was taken into custody five times and arrested twice. Now she faces another prison sentence.
Kurdish journalist Beritan Canözer is once again standing trial due to her social media posts during the self-governance resistance in the Sur district of Amed (Diyarbakır) in 2015.
The hearing of the retrial was held at Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court on Tuesday. The journalist was represented by her lawyer, Muharrem Erbey.
Lawyer Erbey said, “Journalistic activity in the (Kurdish) region is criminalized. It is subjected to investigation and used as a justification for detention. Journalists who criticize the government and report on events in the region are seen as criminals. Journalistic activity is criminalized.”
Muharrem Erbey spoke about a lack of material and moral elements of the crime and asked for his client's acquittal.
The court then announced the verdict and sentenced the Kurdish journalist to 1 year and 3 months of imprisonment given for “making propaganda for an illegal organization”.
Beritan Canözer, a correspondent for the women's agency JinNews, has been working as a journalist for ten years. During this time, her home was searched six times by the police. She was arrested five times and was twice in custody for several months. Eight criminal proceedings were initiated against her. In three cases, she was accused of membership in a terrorist organization and acquitted in court. She was sentenced to a total of seven and a half years in prison in four different trials on charges of propaganda for a terrorist organization.
