A Turkish court on Friday rejected a request for immediate acquittal in the trial of eight journalists prosecuted for covering protests that erupted after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the Media and Law Association (MLSA) reported.
The prosecution opposed the request, arguing that the conditions for an immediate acquittal were not met. The court accepted that position and adjourned the trial until November 27.
The journalists — AFP photographer Yasin Akgül, Zeynep Kuray, Bülent Kılıç, Gökhan Kam, Hayri Tunç, Emre Orman, Ali Onur Tosun and Kurtuluş Arı — are charged with “participating in an unlawful demonstration and failing to disperse despite warnings.”
The hearing took place at Istanbul’s 62nd Criminal Court of First Instance. Observers from Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the DİSK Press Workers’ Union attended the session.
AFP photojournalist Akgül told the court he was detained simply for doing his job.
“I’ve been taking photographs for 18 years and working as a journalist for 15. A photojournalist has to be on the ground because that’s where the images are taken. As a press card holder, I’m in the Governor’s Office WhatsApp groups where bans on protests are announced. We receive that information and go to the scene to take photos. Many media outlets around the world subscribe to AFP; these images are published globally. I’m not taking them for myself.”
Kuray, a veteran reporter, said images in the case file were intentionally cropped to make her appear to be a protester.
“They look at the footage, see Zeynep Kuray, and say, ‘Take her, too.’ We’re [journalists], the usual suspects of every era,” she told the court.
Orman said the case against them was fabricated, arguing that photos in the case file had been deliberately framed to make him appear as a protester. “This case is a setup,” he told the court, adding that his equipment was intentionally cropped out of the images.
Defense attorneys said the indictment contained no concrete evidence such as videos, official warnings or timestamps. “There’s no location, no time, no footage — only statements saying, ‘I was doing journalism,’” said lawyer Batıkan Erkoç, calling for acquittal.
The journalists were among 11 media workers detained in March 2025 while covering protests in Istanbul and İzmir following İmamoğlu’s arrest. Seven of them were briefly jailed after a prosecutor challenged their initial release but were freed again two days later.
İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul and a leading figure in the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), was detained on March 19 and arrested days later on corruption charges criticized as politically motivated, with his arrest sparking Turkey’s worst protests in a decade. Since he is still behind bars, his mayoral duties are currently being performed by a deputy.
Opponents and international observers view the legal action against İmamoğlu, seen as the main political threat to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 22-year rule, as politically motivated, aimed at sidelining a major rival and signaling tougher control over the opposition ahead of future elections.
Rights groups have condemned the case as part of a broader pattern of judicial harassment against the press in Turkey.
Turkey, which remains one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, according to press freedom organizations, dropped to 159th out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in early May.
