Charges have been brought against journalist Öznur Değer, news editor of the women’s news agency Jin News, and Osman Akın, former editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Yeni Yaşam. The charges relate to a report on alleged abuses during a police operation in the Kurdish province of Mardin in July 2024.
The public prosecutor’s office in Mardin accuses the two journalists of deliberately targeting an individual in an article entitled “Criminal complaint against Commander Kamil Aksoy – responsible for torture in Nusaybin.” According to the indictment, the reporting is not covered by freedom of the press. The charge is “targeted defamation” of a public official.
The report refers to an operation in July 2024 in the village of Marînê in the district of Nusaybin, during which members of the Turkish gendarmerie (military police) stormed a residential building and, according to those affected, allegedly used torture. Kamil Aksoy, the Commander of the Gendarmerie Commando Battalion in the district of Kızıltepe, who is named in the report, filed a criminal complaint against the journalists after the report was published.
The indictment has since been accepted by the 2nd Heavy Penal Court in Mardin. A date for the first hearing has yet to be set.