The hearings of the lawsuits filed against Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reporter Berzan Güneş and Dicle News Agency (DIHA) reporter Ziya Ataman were held. Dicle News Agency has previously been shut down with an emergency decree.
In the third hearing of the case against Ziya Ataman, who is arrested since 11 April 2016, Şırnak 1st Assize Court didn’t issue a release verdict for Ataman. The reporter is on trial together with 18 other defendants, nine of them arrested, due to ‘illegal organization membership.’ “My only weapon as a journalist is my pen. I have no other weapon,” Ataman said. The next hearing of the case will be held on 26 October 2018.
Güneş, on the other hand, was arrested last June due to ‘making illegal organization propaganda’ through his social media posts and was released in the first hearing of the case against him at Iğdır Assize Court.
07.08.2018
bianet.org