Kurdish journalist Celalettin Yalçın, who was charged with terrorism for alleged membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has been released after spending around two years in pre-trial detention. On Friday, the 37th Heavy Penal Court in Istanbul decided at the first hearing of the retrial to release Yalçın on condition that he report regularly to the authorities.
Although the court upheld the original sentence of six years and three months in prison, it took into account the time already served in pre-trial detention. Yalçın attended the hearing on Friday via video conferencing system from the high-security prison in the central Anatolian province of Kırşehir. Present in the courtroom were his defense attorney Serhat Çakmak, who is also co-chair of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), Selman Çiçek from the board of the Dicle Fırat Journalists’ Association DFG, as well as relatives and colleagues.
The court allowed Yalçın to conduct his defense in Kurdish. In his statement, he referred to the Cassation Court’s decision to overturn the earlier ruling, in which significant parts of the previous judgment had been rejected. “I accept the findings made in my favor,” said Yalçın.
The public prosecutor nevertheless demanded that he remain in custody, citing an alleged risk of flight. Yalçın rejected this, stating: “I have been in custody since November 2023 and was already in prison for around a year earlier in the proceedings. I demand my acquittal and my immediate release.”
Yalçın’s lawyer emphasized that the time spent in custody was effectively equivalent to the sentence. In addition, he said, the Court of Cassation overturned the verdict on the grounds of insufficient evidence and lack of proportionality. According to Çakmak, the circumstantial evidence presented in the trial—a few magazines and notes—was not sufficient to establish reasonable suspicion.
A final ruling in the case is still pending.