Turkish prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of up to five years for a journalist due to one of his articles last year in which he talked about alleged corruption in the judiciary, the T24 news website reported.
Journalist Tolga Şardan was put in pre-trial detention for five days in November after his article was published on the T24 news website. The article revealed the existence of a report by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) on corruption in the judiciary.
In his article Şardan said the MİT report was submitted to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and had revealed various irregularities and corrupt practices.
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which initiated an investigation into the journalist, has completed its indictment. Şardan is accused of “publicly disseminating misleading information” and “insulting the state’s judicial bodies” under the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) in the six-page indictment.
Since the Justice Ministry must give its approval to investigate a person under Article 301 of the TCK, which concerns insult, permission was sought from and granted by the Justice Ministry to investigate the journalist.
As part of their investigation prosecutors asked MİT whether such a report exists, which MİT denied, according to the indictment.
Turkey has been grappling with allegations of corruption within its judicial system for some time.
Before Şardan’s article, İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor İsmail Uçar came forward with a letter sent to the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) exposing corruption in the country’s judicial system.
Turkey’s judiciary was already criticized by international bodies and rights groups for taking orders from the executive branch prior to the allegations of corruption.
Turkey disbarred more than 4,000 judges and prosecutors immediately after an abortive coup in July 2016 over alleged ties to the faith-based Gülen movement, which it accused of orchestrating the attempted putsch. The movement denies any involvement.
The mass disbarment of members of the judiciary is believed by many to have had a chilling effect on the entire justice system, intimidating the remaining judges and prosecutors into doing the government’s bidding by launching politically motivated investigations into critics.
Turkey was ranked 117th among 142 countries in the rule of law index published by the World Justice Project (WJP) in October, in a sign of the deteriorating rule of law in the country.