MERSİN - Tarsus 8th Criminal Court of Peace sentenced Azadiya Welat Newspaper's former Editor-in-Chief İsmail Çoban to 2 years in prison, for the newspaper clippings he had collected in prison.

 

Tarsus 8th Criminal Court of Peace sentenced İsmail Çoban, the former Editor-in-Chief of Azadîya Welat Newspaper, to 2 years of imprisonment on the allegation of "having prohibited items in the penal institution or detention center" due to the clippings he had cut and collected from Özgürlükçü Demokrasi newspaper. Çoban, who was taken into custody within the scope of the investigation carried out in April 2018 and arrested with the allegation of "membership in a terrorist organization", is being held in Tarsus No 3 T Type Closed Prison. Newspaper clippings that were seized in the ward raid by the guards on July 24, 2019, were confiscated as evidence of crime. The term 'unknown language' was used by the Tarus 8th Criminal Court of Peace for the articles  in the newspaper clippings written in Kurdish.

 

Evaluating the decision, attorney of Çoban, Mehmet Altuntaş said the newspapers in question were obtained by his client in prison with the knowlade of the prison administration and within the law. Altuntaş said: "This is a very grave decision. This is ridiculous and unreasonable. İsmail Çoban was the Editor in Chief of Azadîye Welat Newspaper. They are doing this to a journalists. This decision can not be explained within law. It is a scandal. This is an eclipse of reason."

 

 

MA / Ömer Akın