A Turkish court on Friday adjourned the trial of four journalists, including Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer Yasin Akgül, who face up to three years in prison for covering mass protests in İstanbul that erupted after the arrest of opposition mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in March.
The four photojournalists — Akgül, Ali Onur Tosun of the Turkish broadcaster NOW Haber, and freelancers Bülent Kılıç and Zeynep Kuray — were detained in early morning raids on March 24, just days after nationwide demonstrations broke out over İmamoğlu’s imprisonment.
Authorities accused the journalists, along with thousands of protesters detained during the rallies, of violating Turkey’s restrictive law on public assemblies.
“I have been a journalist for 15 years and have never been taken from my home by police in the early morning in front of my children,” said Akgül, 35, during the hearing. “I was walking ahead of the protesters to get a better picture, together with the police.”
His lawyer, Kemal Kumkumoğlu, said his client had done nothing illegal. “The journalists were just doing their job,” he told the court, calling for their immediate acquittal.
The judge adjourned the trial until November 27.
AFP’s global news director, Phil Chetwynd, called the prosecution “baseless” and urged Turkish authorities to drop the charges. “The accusations against our photographer, who was just doing his job in covering events of public interest, are without merit,” Chetwynd said in a statement Thursday. “AFP expects him to be completely acquitted and reaffirms its attachment to press freedom and the protection of journalists worldwide.”
Media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the trial sought to “cover up police brutality” during the March demonstrations. “The trial of journalists as ‘activists’ with a conspiratorial approach should have ended today,” RSF’s Turkey representative, Erol Önderoğlu, told AFP. “This unlawful case should have been dismissed immediately.”
The protests that swept İstanbul and other major cities were the largest in Turkey since the 2013 Gezi Park movement. İmamoğlu’s arrest, officially linked to a corruption probe, was widely seen as politically motivated and as part of a broader crackdown on the opposition.
The İstanbul mayor, a leading figure in the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), is considered President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest potential challenger in the 2028 presidential election.
© Agence France-Presse