BirGün reporter İsmail Arı has been arrested on charges of ‘journalistic offences’!

BirGün reporter İsmail Arı has been arrested on charges of ‘journalistic offences’!

TRANSFERRED TO THE COURT

İsmail Arı’s questioning, which lasted several hours, concluded at around 18:50. Arı was transferred to the court at 20:00.

The prosecution referred Arı to the magistrates’ court with a request for detention without taking his statement. Lawyers Taylan Arı, Gizem Özdem, Deniz Özgün Kaplan, Kerem Altıparmak, Nazım Ülger and İlhan Cihaner arrived at Ankara Courthouse to defend İsmail Arı.

DECISION TO BE ISSUED

At around 11.00 pm, the hearing at the Magistrates’ Court was adjourned pending a decision. Following the adjournment, İsmail Arı was remanded in custody.

İSMAİL ARI: “JOURNALİSM İS NOT A CRİME”

İsmail Arı, who is currently in custody, shared a message with the public through his lawyers. Our reporter Arı said the following in his message:

“I was detained because of a video from three months ago. I was taken in the evening from a Eid visit and brought to Ankara after traveling 450 km. New tweets and my old videos continue to be added to my case file. I suspect they are trying to inflate the case to have me arrested. They’ve been looking for an excuse to arrest me for the past year anyway. My only crime is practicing journalism in this country. Journalism is not a crime. Stand with the journalists. Best regards…”