Application to Constitutional Court for Journalists Nedim Türfent, İdris Sayılğan

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Attorneys Veysel Ok and Barış Oflas from the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) have applied to the Constitutional Court for the arrested journalists İdris Sayılğan and Nedim Türfent, requesting that the related measures be taken and their cases be heard with priority.

In their application, Ok and Oflas have emphasized that their clients have been subjected to discrimination due to the institutions where they worked and their news which focused on the Kurdish question.

Attorney Ok has stated that the application to be submitted to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) about Sayılğan is almost ready, adding that they have worked in cooperation with the London-based Media Legal Defense Initiative (MLDI), which provides legal support to journalists, in preparing the application to the ECtHR.

Depending on the ruling of the Constitutional Court, an application will also be submitted to the ECtHR regarding Nedim Türfent.

While Sayılğan has been held at Trabzon Type E Closed Prison for 631 days, Türfent has been held at Van Type T Closed Prison for almost 800 days. The application to the Constitutional Court for İdris Sayılğan, who has been arrested on charge of "being member of a terrorist organization", was submitted on July 11, Türfent's application was made on July 3.

Nedim Türfent, the reporter of Dicle News Agency (DİHA), has been behind bars since May 2016 and was sentenced to 8 years and 9 months in prison on charge of "being member of a terrorist organization" by the Hakkari 2nd Heavy Penal Court on December 15, 2017. (ÇT/SD)