Four Turkish photographers, including one from Agence France-Presse, go on trial today in İstanbul and face up to three years in jail after being arrested while covering demonstrations in March.
The reporters were arrested on March 24 during the wave of protests sparked by the arrest of İstanbul’s opposition mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, who remains in pretrial detention.
Thousands of protesters and several journalists were detained during the massive rallies, accused of violating the law on demonstrations and public gatherings.
The journalists arrested include AFP’s Yasin Akgül as well as three other photographers: Ali Onur Tosun of Turkish broadcaster Haber and freelancers Bülent Kılıç and Zeynep Kuray.
“We are following the baseless legal action against Yasin Akgul very closely. The accusations against our photographer, who was just doing his job in covering events of public interest, are without merit,” said Phil Chetwynd, AFP’s global news director.
“AFP expects him to be completely acquitted and reaffirms its attachment to freedom of the press and the protection of journalists, throughout the world,” he said.
Media rights group Reporters without Borders said the trial was a “plot to cover up police brutality” during the protests.
“The reporters were filmed by the police in such a way as to give the impression that they were protesters,” the group’s Turkish representative, Erol Önderoğlu, said.
The protests that swept Turkey in March were the biggest since the massive anti-government demonstrations at İstanbul’s Gezi Park in 2013.
This year’s demonstrations broke out in support of İmamoğlu, an opposition figure and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main rival.
İmamoğlu was arrested on corruption charges that opposition parties say are politically motivated.
Erdoğan vowed during the demonstration that he would not give in to “street terror.”
© Agence France-Presse