A Turkish court on Friday ordered the release of investigative journalist İsmail Arı after 75 days in pretrial detention on a charge of spreading false information.
Arı, a reporter for the left-wing BirGün daily, was detained in March in the northern province of Tokat before being taken to Ankara for questioning and put in pretrial detention.
A court in the Turkish capital ordered his release at the opening of his trial on Friday, although the proceedings against him will continue, BirGün said.
He faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.
Arı was questioned about posts on X and YouTube and articles examining public funding for a network of foundations linked to the family of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to media rights groups.
Addressing the court, Arı said he was being punished for his reporting.
“I am exercising my right to practice journalism in this country,” he said, according to remarks published by BirGün.
“I was threatened many times, but I continued to do journalism for the public,” he said, adding that the public support shown after his arrest demonstrated awareness of his work.
“I practice clean, honest journalism, and that is why I was punished,” he said.
Erol Önderoğlu of Reporters Without Borders welcomed Arı’s release but said legislation criminalizing the publication of misleading information was being used to pressure journalists.
“If the ‘disinformation law’ continues to be weaponized by the judiciary as a tool to intimidate journalists, the future of journalism will face far more serious and overt uncertainties,” he said.
In late February, a Turkish journalist working for Germany’s Deutsche Welle was arrested on a charge of insulting the president, another offense used against journalists in Turkey.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Turkey 163rd among 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index.
© Agence France-Presse