Journalists handed international travel ban over report on controversial top court appointment

Constitutional Court President Zühtü Aslan welcomes İrfan Fidan in a 2021 ceremony.

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Two journalists who reported on the appointment of a judge as a member of the Constitutional Court have been issued travel bans.

Faruk Eren, the head of legal affairs at the Gerçek Gündem news portal and the president of the DİSK Basın-İş Union, and editor Furkan Karabay, were indicted on charge of "targeting counterterrorism officials for terrorist organizations" due to the report in question.

The Ankara 22nd Heavy Penal Court, imposed a travel ban on the two journalists due to "strong suspicion of a crime" as per article 109/3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The 2021 appointment of Judge İrfan Fidan to the Constitutional Court by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had ignited a contentious debate because it had occurred only 20 days following his appointment to the Court of Cassation, the top appeals court.

During his tenure as the chief public prosecutor of İstanbul, Fidan investigated a series of significant political cases, including the Gezi Park case and the "MİT Trucks" espionage case.

Fidan had filed a complaint against Karabay and Eren for reporting on his career and the process of his appointment to the Constitutional Court.

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office requested a prison sentence of up to three years for the two journalists.

The indictment included Karabay's report on Fidan and his social media posts as "evidence of the crime." The Ankara 22nd Heavy Penal Court, which accepted the indictment, will hold the first hearing on November 7th. (HA/VK)