Journalist Mehmet Şahin sentenced to heavy prison term

The verdict was handed down in the trial of the journalist Mehmet Şahin before the 5th Heavy Penal Court in Diyarbakır (ku. Amed). Şahin was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison for “membership in a terrorist organisation”. The court reduced the sentence to six years and three months imprisonment, taking into account the “social prognosis”.

The journalist was criminalised because between 2010 and 2013 he was active in the Kurdish language promotion association KURDI-DER as a board member and had participated in various events of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK). He was accused of “founding and leading a terrorist organisation”. In its plea, the prosecution had demanded up to 15 years imprisonment under the paragraph “membership in an armed terrorist organisation”.

Şahin was suspended by decree in 2016 after 22 years as a teacher. He then appealed and it was determined in 2018 that there were no preliminary proceedings against him. Regarding the current proceedings, he says: “I don’t understand why I am being charged here. First I was suspended without a charge and now I can’t help but wonder if an offence is being constructed to justify the suspension.”