Prosecutors demand up to 52 years in jail for journalist

Arzu Kaya ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Two Turkish journalists face between 26 and 52 years in jail for publishing a document about a 2004 meeting of the National Security Council (MGK).

Journalist Mehmet Baransu had published the document in his newspaper Taraf on Nov. 28, 2013, claiming it proves that the Turkish government “decided to finish off the Gülen movement during a meeting of the MGK on Aug. 25, 2004.”

The two-page indictment prepared by the Anadolu Chief Prosecutor’s Office charges Baransu, as well as Taraf’s managing editor Murat Şevki Çoban, for “providing documents related to the security of the state,” “publishing information that must remain confidential due to the state’s security or political interests in domestic or foreign policies” and “publishing a document or information related to the activities or duties of the National Intelligence Organization [MİT].”

The prosecutor stressed that the appendix documents to the MGK’s decision numbered 481 were referred in the Taraf report. “The publication was conducted in contrary to facts by claiming the appendix includes measures to eliminate the activities of the Gülen group,” the indictment said. It is also stressed that Baransu published documents regarding the duties of the MİT Undersecretary in his column in December 2013, “presenting the office as if it conducts illegal profiling.”

Prosecutors had initially launched an espionage investigation, while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had slammed daily Taraf and accused Baransu of “treason” in December 2013.

The trial is expected to start in the coming days.