Marking the 10th anniversary of investigative journalist Mehmet Baransu’s arrest, his lawyer took to social media to criticize what she described as a lack of solidarity from both the public and his colleagues in journalism.
Once a prominent investigative reporter for the now-shuttered Taraf daily, Baransu has faced multiple prosecutions, with charges expanding over time to include espionage, defamation and terrorism. Press freedom groups call his imprisonment politically motivated, while Turkish authorities argue it is a matter of national security.
Baransu’s reporting played a key role in exposing alleged coup plots and government corruption, but authorities later claimed his work crossed legal boundaries. Over the years his convictions have resulted in a combined prison sentence of more than 40 years, despite appeals, overturned verdicts and international criticism.
“For 10 years, countless lies have been told, countless accusations have been made. No one cared about the facts, no one asked why or how he was prosecuted,” his attorney, Çiğdem Koç, said on X. “Baransu is in prison simply for doing journalism. He has no affiliation with any group, political party or organization — his identity is journalism itself.”
She also criticized fellow journalists for failing to stand by Baransu, saying those who protest press restrictions when they are affected have remained silent about his case. “A few people aside, it is impossible to understand the stance of journalists. Those who shout ‘Journalism is not a crime’ when they are targeted did not even look into why a colleague was prosecuted,” she said.
On March 1, 2015 police raided Baransu’s home in İstanbul, seizing documents, hard drives and digital files. He was arrested the next day. The charges initially stemmed from documents he provided to prosecutors in 2010 as part of the Sledgehammer (Balyoz) coup plot investigation. The case led to the conviction of military officers accused of planning a 2003 coup, but authorities later claimed Baransu had obtained and disclosed military documents illegally.
Sledgehammer was an alleged coup plot against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) drafted in 2003. The military is claimed to have planned drastic measures to foment unrest in the country in order to remove the AKP from power.
Baransu reported on the plan in the Taraf daily in 2010 and handed over documents related to the coup plot to the prosecutors the same year, which led to the trial of dozens of military officers, including generals.
Baransu denied any wrongdoing, saying he was targeted for his reporting. His lawyers called the charges politically motivated, but courts denied him bail. In the following months additional prosecutions emerged, many tied to his past investigations.
Baransu’s imprisonment soon extended beyond the Sledgehammer case. Over the years, multiple trials resulted in additional convictions.
One of the most significant cases focused on the Egemen Operation Plan, a classified military contingency document he obtained in 2010. Although Taraf never published details from the document, prosecutors argued that his possession alone constituted a security threat. He was tried along with former Taraf colleagues and in 2022 sentenced to 13 years in prison for obtaining and disclosing state secrets.
His defense argued that the document had been destroyed by the military in 2008 — years before he obtained it — meaning no leak had occurred. In October 2022 a regional appeals court overturned his conviction, ruling there was insufficient evidence. But the ruling did not lead to his release since his other sentences kept him in prison.
Another major trial stemmed from a 2013 article in which Baransu published details of a 2004 National Security Council (MGK) decision outlining plans to end the Gülen movement. Years later, authorities charged him with exposing classified documents, and in 2020 he was sentenced to 17 years for publishing intelligence-related information. Baransu argued that his reporting served the public interest, but the court ruled that he had endangered national security.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following a coup attempt in 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the abortive putsch or any terrorist activity.
The most serious conviction came from an investigation seemingly unrelated to state secrets. In 2013 Baransu reported that 23 tons of genetically modified rice had been illegally imported into Turkey under forged customs documents. The government responded not by investigating the allegations but by charging him with illegally obtaining state files related to the customs probe.
Prosecutors later escalated the case, accusing him of links to the Gülen movement. A court in Mersin sentenced him to 19-and-a-half years in prison, with more than 13 years tied to alleged terrorism links. Authorities cited his use of the encrypted messaging app ByLock, which they consider evidence of Gülenist ties. Baransu denied any affiliation, saying he was punished for exposing corruption.
Baransu’s legal team has filed multiple appeals, with mixed results. In 2022 his overturned Sledgehammer conviction raised hopes for his release, but the Mersin court’s sentence ensured he remained in prison. His appeal against that ruling went to Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals in 2024, which upheld his terrorism conviction.
International human rights organizations have condemned his imprisonment. In 2023 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that Turkish authorities had violated his right to a fair trial, citing his excessive pretrial detention. Baransu’s pretrial detention lasted for six years, between March 1, 2015 and March 8, 2021. The court ordered Turkey to pay him €9,800 in damages, but the ruling did not overturn his convictions.
Press freedom organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and PEN International, have called his imprisonment politically motivated. CPJ has documented more than 100 separate cases filed against Baransu since his arrest, many of which it considers judicial harassment.
