The prosecutor of the Istanbul 11^th High Criminal Court demanded the acquittal of Zaman newspaper reporter Büşra Erdal. The journalist stands trial on the grounds of news articles regarding various decisions of the "Ergenekon" and "Sledgehammer" Investigations.

Erdal is being prosecuted together with the daily's Ankara correspondent Metin Arslan and editorial manager Hayri Beşer. Public Prosecutor Celal Kara presented his final plea at the hearing on Wednesday (27 April).

Prosecutor Kara: Articles remain within borders of criticism

The trial is based on Erdal's article "The ones appointed during the HSYK crisis intervened, Sledgehammer is being covered up" published on the daily's front page on 2 April 2010. Prosecutor Kara claimed that the news item was to be seen within the limits of criticism and concluded that it could not be evaluated as identifying anybody as a traget.

Kara pointed to the fact that "no other trial in the context of this offence or a similar one was opened against Zaman newspaper at any Special Authority High Criminal Court". He said that he did not encounter any propaganda for a terrorist organization in the article and hence pleaded for the acquittal of the defendants.

Plaintiff lawyer claims bias of prosecutor's final speech

Lawyer Nail Dursun Kırbaş, legal advisor of the litigant judges Tuncay Aslan and Yılmaz Alp, criticized the final speech of the prosecution as being biased. "The plaintiffs have been identified as targets to a congregational organization at least. The prosecutor's plea advocates for Zaman newspaper", he demurred.

Defence lawyer Hasan Günaydın drew attention to the fact that a full two months had passed between the publication date of the news article and the date the case was opened. Therefore, he demanded to drop procedures.

The trial was postponed to 9 September in order to allow additional time for defendant Erdal to prepare her defence.

Erdal: We are treated like stepchildren

Journalist Erdal said in a statement made after the hearing, "We underline that the prosecution should be a little bit more meticulous when they launch an investigation. It should be researched in detail whether an element of crime occurred or not. They should be more careful when the court accepts the indictment".

Erdal was asked if she would have appreciated the presence of journalists like the ones who covered their mouths with black tape to protest the arrests of Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener. She replied, "We have been prosecuted for a long time. There were many trials in 2008 and 2009. Unfortunately, there were not many colleagues who supported us back then. I thank the ones who came here to support us but we see that the professional organizations are not supporting us. We are being treated like stepchildren in this aspect".

Representatives of the Bosporus Lawyers Association, the Turkish Journalists Association (TGC), the Freedom for Journalists Platform (GÖP), the Media Association, the Lawyers Association and the Justice and Law Association came to court to support journalist Erdal. (EÇ/EÖ)