The prosecution had sought a sentence: The verdict hearing in the Akın Gürlek case against BirGün will take place tomorrow

The third hearing in the case against BirGün Board Chairman İbrahim Aydın, birgun.net Publication Coordinator Uğur Koç, and former birgun.net Editor-in-Chief Yaşar Gökdemir, who are being tried for a news story mentioning Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek, will be held tomorrow.

The hearing, scheduled for tomorrow at 11:20 at the İstanbul 23rd Heavy Penal Court, is expected to result in a decision by the court panel.

At the second hearing on 22 September, the prosecution presented its opinion. The court accepted the request of Akın Gürlek and his lawyer to participate in the trial and postponed the hearing until Wednesday, 22 October.

PRISON SENTENCE REQUESTED

Aydın, Koç and Gökdemir are facing prison sentences of between two and five years on charges of “publicly insulting a public official” and “targeting terrorist organisations”.

It is also requested that the three individuals be deprived of certain rights under Article 53 of the Turkish Penal Code, known as the “political ban”.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

birgun.net Publication Coordinators Uğur Koç and Berkant Gültekin, along with Editor-in-Chief Yaşar Gökdemir, were detained on 8 February 2025 for reporting on the visit of the Sabah newspaper to Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek. The three were taken to court the following day. Berkant Gültekin was released by the prosecutor's office, while Uğur Koç and Yaşar Gökdemir were released by the magistrate's court, which imposed a travel ban and required them to sign in regularly.

On 8 February 2025, a decision was made that there were no grounds for prosecution against Berkant Gültekin, the Publication Coordinator of birgun.net, who had been detained alongside Uğur Koç and Yaşar Gökdemir.