Editor-in-Chief of the RED magazine Hakan Gülseven was arrested on Thursday on a warrant issued because he failed to pay damages levied in lawsuits relevant to his journalistic activities.
The Artı Gerçek news website spoke to his lawyer, who said the journalist was jailed due to his failure to pay damages in three lawsuits filed against him. According to his lawyer, the court refused to decrease the amount. Gülseven had stated in the last couple of months that it was his former boss, Yurt newspaper owner Durdu Özbolat, also a deputy from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), who was supposed to pay the damages decided on by the court.
Turkey remains the largest jailer of journalists in the world according to a recent report published by Reporters Without Borders.