In Britain, however, the defendant sits in an enclosed area on the opposite side of the judge from the witness stand. This is part of American tradition, intended to show the two sides as symbolically equal before the eyes of the law and to allow the defendant to see the witnesses against him or her. In the United States, the defendant and his or her legal counsel sit at a table across from the judge and to one side of the plaintiff or prosecutor. The origin of the phrase is rooted in the traditional layout of the English courtroom. It is a British expression, more commonly used in the United Kingdom than in the United States. International scrutiny of Turkey’s record on media freedom and solidary for its embattled journalists has never been more important.The phrase “in the dock” is an idiomatic expression that means someone or something is being subjected to examination or trial. But after criticism in pro-government media that decision was reversed and the judges involved were suspended from duty. They include 10 of the Cumhuriyet staff currently on trial.įor those hoping that the courts will see the flimsy evidence brought against journalists for what it is, it is worth noting that in March, a court ordered the release on bail of a group of journalists who had already been in pretrial detention for an extended period. More than 160 journalists and media workers are now in prison or pretrial detention, according to Turkish media watchdog NGO P24. Over the past year, hundreds of outlets have been shuttered or taken over under state of emergency powers. ![]() As a recent Human Rights Watch report showed, critical journalism has been under assault by the Turkish state for several years, with the crackdown greatly accelerating after the failed coup attempt in July 2016. An opposition member of parliament alleged to have shared the footage of the arms transfers with the newspaper was jailed in June. They are still on trial in a separate process accused of aiding a terrorist organization. ![]() Its former editor Can Dündar and the Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gül were convicted in May 2016, and sentenced to more than five years’ imprisonment for allegedly revealing state secrets by publishing video and photographic evidence of arms being sent to Syria. ![]() There appears to be nothing that would indicate any kind of criminal wrongdoing, much less helping terrorism.Ĭumhuriyet has been in the state’s sights for some time. ![]() That the groups in question – the armed PKK group and the Gulen movement – have diametrically opposed agendas hardly seems to matter.Īnd the evidence against the defendants appears to consist largely of the newspaper’s content: articles, op-eds, as well as social media posts and phone records. But it seems appropriate when trying to capture the prosecution of 17 journalists, editors, and other staff at Cumhuriyet newspaper that began this week over charges that they have aided and abetted groups the government has designated terrorists. Emails received – but not answered – from people the government views as undesirables, and newspaper clippings presented as evidence of criminal wrongdoing. A demonstration outside a courthouse in Istanbul, Turkey in solidarity with the staff of the opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet on trial over alleged support to terrorist groups, July 24, 2017.Ī journalist prosecuted for allegedly helping a group which he spent years criticizing in his work.
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