DW Journalist Alican Uludag Still Held Awaiting Trial

Alican Uludag, Deutsche Welle’s long-serving Turkey correspondent, has been held in pre-trial detention since February 20 while he awaits trial on three criminal counts: publicly insulting the president, spreading misleading information, and denigrating state institutions. If convicted on all counts he could face up to 19 years behind bars. The substantive trial has not yet started. Although Uludag lives in Ankara, he was arrested in Istanbul and the case was opened there. Under Turkish law, jurisdiction normally rests where the alleged acts took place. His lawyers challenged the Istanbul court’s competence and won a partial victory: an Istanbul court found it lacked jurisdiction and referred the file to Ankara, yet at the same time accepted the charges and ordered an investigation — a decision the defence describes as contradictory. Meanwhile Uludag remains detained despite the file not having been assigned to a court in Ankara. His lawyers have filed an appeal with Turkey’s Constitutional Court arguing that his detention violates basic rights including personal liberty, a fair trial, freedom of expression and press freedom. Defence attorney Abbas Yalcin says that if the Constitutional Court admits the appeal Uludag would be released immediately; if the court rejects it, the file will be transferred to Ankara and the defence will request his release at the first hearing, expecting him to be freed then. Uludag has worked as a court reporter for 18 years, covering many high-profile political trials. His legal team contends he was detained for his journalistic work and critical reporting rather than any genuine criminal conduct, and that the legal criteria for continued pre-trial detention are not met: they point out there is no risk of flight, no evidence he would tamper with evidence, and that he has cooperated with authorities in the past. The charges hinge on social-media posts and his reporting, including criticism of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a Deutsche Welle profile of Turkey’s new justice minister, Akin Gurlek. The defence cites European Court of Human Rights case law holding that laws penalising insults to political leaders should not be used to punish legitimate political criticism, and that public officials must tolerate a higher degree of public scrutiny than private persons. Press freedom groups, including Reporters Without Borders, view Uludag’s detention as part of a wider pattern of legal pressure on journalists in Turkey, saying investigations and prosecutions are frequently used to deter critical reporting and pointing to structural problems in the judiciary. Yalcin and NGOs describe the proceedings as a form of intimidation that undermines fundamental rights. Uludag is among several journalists currently detained; recently reporter Ismail Ari of the national left-leaning daily Birgun was arrested on similar charges. Large pro-press-freedom demonstrations in Ankara and Istanbul last month were dispersed by police. This article was originally published in German.