Turkish prosecutors are seeking prison sentences of up to 19 years for four journalists over their coverage of an investment fund scandal and its alleged links to senior government figures, according to indictments reported Wednesday.
The scandal concerns allegations that investment funds bought thinly traded shares to inflate their prices and the value of their portfolios. When prices fell and investors sought to withdraw their money, some funds could not pay. In September regulators ordered the liquidation of 131 funds managed by seven companies. Those funds had nearly half a million individual investors.
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office is seeking up to 19 years for Şaban Sevinç, editor-in-chief of the Bizim TV online news outlet, and close to 11 years for Mustafa Balcı, an editor at the Sözcü news website.
The two are accused of publicly insulting a public official, making false accusations and disseminating misleading information. Prosecutors sought enhanced penalties for Sevinç under provisions covering repeated offenses.
Their case concerns reporting and social media posts about ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesman Ömer Çelik and Osman Arıkan Nacar, whose name appeared in the fund investigation.
Balcı shared a photograph showing Çelik and Nacar at a concert in the holiday resort of Bodrum in western Turkey on August 22.
The journalist denied spreading false information, saying the photograph had already been published. Sevinç discussed the allegations on X and YouTube, telling prosecutors that his sources included people within the AKP and that he had presented the claims as allegations.
Both journalists have been jailed since October 9. The İstanbul 48th Criminal Court of First Instance accepted their indictment, ordered their continued detention and scheduled their first hearing for November 27.
In a separate indictment, prosecutors are seeking nearly 15 years each for journalists İsmail Saymaz and Murat Ağırel over an October 7 Sözcü TV broadcast discussing allegations concerning Trade Minister Ömer Bolat.
They face charges of insulting a public official, making false accusations, disseminating misleading information and unlawfully obtaining or disclosing personal data. The last charge concerns information about Bolat’s investment account.
Prosecutors allege that the journalists linked Bolat to the suspected financial network without supporting their claims with concrete information or documents.
Ağırel told prosecutors he had presented the claims as allegations and identified the newly formed opposition New Party as their source. Saymaz denied making accusations against Bolat, saying he had only asked Ağırel questions during the broadcast.
Bolat denied wrongdoing and filed a criminal complaint.
He said his investment consisted of savings accumulated before he became minister and that he had neither closed the account around the start of the investigation nor traded shares through it.
Saymaz and Ağırel were initially released with overseas travel bans and requirements to report regularly to police. A court placed both under house arrest on October 10 after prosecutors challenged their release.
Ağırel was subsequently jailed on October 19 in a separate money laundering investigation involving members of the family of opposition politician Mustafa Sarıgül. He remains in jail in that case, while Saymaz remains under house arrest.
Saymaz responded to the indictment on X, saying: “The first fund scandal case was brought against us,” highlighting that journalists covering the scandal were facing trial before those accused of orchestrating it.
The prosecutions come as the financial investigation reaches former AKP officials and senior market executives, intensifying questions about political connections and failures in oversight.
Ertan Aydın, a former Erdoğan adviser and AKP lawmaker who served on the board of the Tera Yatırım brokerage, was jailed pending trial in October. Former family minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya and her husband were questioned as suspects over their investments and denied wrongdoing. The AKP later confirmed that Kaya was no longer a party member.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said Tuesday that investigators had uncovered a criminal network extending into the upper levels of the financial bureaucracy and were investigating 433 suspects.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has warned that the cases reflect growing use of Turkey’s disinformation law against independent reporting.
The CPJ said on October 12 that at least 22 journalists had been arrested or detained under the law that year. It called for the release of all four journalists and the repeal of the legislation.
Introduced in October 2022, Article 217/A of the penal code provides prison terms of one to three years for publicly spreading false information concerning security, public order or public health with the sole intent of causing anxiety, fear or panic, in a manner capable of disturbing the public peace.
The CPJ says repeated detention and prosecution under the law can silence reporting even when cases end without convictions.
This article is republished from Turkish Minute.
