Turkish journalist faces 23 years in jail for story on judges and prosecutors

Reporter Canan Co?kun faces 23 years in prison for coverage of a story about top judicial officials allegedly buying discounted residences from a public real estate company.

Co?kun, who works for daily Cumhuriyet, will appear in court on Nov. 12 facing 23 years and four months in prison on charges of "insulting public officials over their duties."

The news story on the residence project in Istanbul's Ba?ak?ehir district was published in Cumhuriyet on Feb. 19 with the headline "Controversial residence sales in judiciary."

The judges and prosecutors who allegedly bought discounted residences from the public firm included members of the Unity in Justice Platform (YBP), which had been supported by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the recent elections to the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK).

The indictment prepared by the Chief Public Prosecutor Umut Tepe accuses Co?kun of "tarnishing the reputations of the judges and prosecutors by spelling out their names in her story." It also said the story had "insulted" them "by creating a negative perception against them."

The judges and prosecutors mentioned in Co?kun's story for allegedly buying the apartments included names from a number of controversial cases in Turkey. These included Istanbul public prosecutor Hadi Saliho?lu, Istanbul deputy public prosecutor Orhan Kap?c?, and former Istanbul public prosecutor Vedat Yi?it, who opened an investigation into Cumhuriyet for republishing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. Also included was prosecutor Ali Do?an, who started a probe into soldiers who stopped and searched Syria-bound trucks owned by the Turkish intelligence agency; top judge ?slam Çiçek, who ordered the release of the sons of four former ministers embroiled...