Decision of acquittal about journalist and writer Roza Metina

  • 15:00 12 October 2021
  • Law
 
DİYARBAKIR - The court acquitted journalist and writer Roza Metina, who was tried within the scope of the DTK investigation.
 
The 3rd hearing of the case brought against journalist and writer Roza Metina, who was among those detained within the scope of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) investigation launched by Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on November 20, 2020, was held at Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court. While Roza did not attend the hearing, her lawyer Resul Temur was present.
The prosecution demanded a punishment for ‘’membership in a terrorist organization’’ on the grounds that Roza was a DTK delegate and committed the crime charged against her.
 
‘She did not attend any meeting within the scope of DTK’
 
Lawyer Resul Temur stated that they repeated their written statements, that the prosecution could not establish a connection in the evidence part in the opinion given and that the alleged crime could not be clarified through the evidence. Resul demanded his client’s acquittal, stating that his client did not commit the actions shown to punish his client. Resul said: ‘’There are actions in which my client is not involved. As we mentioned in the stages, my client is a writer and has written articles on this subject in various platforms. However, any meeting she attended within the scope of DTK was not submitted to the file. She did not even attend as a guest. Probably an invitation list has been prepared and we believe that my client’s name was mentioned in this way before this list was put into practice. Although there are two pilot decisions of the Court of Cassation regarding the DTK, the appeal has made the following distinction. It stated that even if she attended the meetings, she could not be qualified as a member of the organization.’’
 
The court board decided that although indictment was regulated to punish for the crime of ‘’membership in a terrorist organization’’, it was not proven that she had committed a related charge and therefore she was acquitted and the judicial review measure was lifted.