Turkey: CFWIJ Demands An Immediate Release Of Jin News Reporter Beritan Canözer
Location: Turkey, Diyarbakir
Date: April 5, 2021Available in: 🇹🇷 Türkçe
Early this morning, Jin News reporter Beritan Canözer’s house was raided and the journalist was taken to custody. No further information is given about the detention, reportedly. The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) is appalled by this vicious attempt against journalists to intimidate them. We demand the Turkish state to release our colleague immediately.
Jin News reporter Beritan Canözer was detained in a raid on her home early this morning. Police raided her house in Diyarbakır. Beritan was taken to custody after the police raid. According to Jin News, the reason of Beritan's detention was not specified to her family. The journalist was taken to the Diyarbakır Police Station. Besides Beritan, the police also raided the Rosa Women's Association this morning. No further information was given about those simultaneous raids to be linked or not.
Beritan, who is consistently targeted by the Turkish state, is a journalist based in southeast Turkey. She was legally persecuted many times nearly over the last decade.
On June 28, 2019, Beritan was detained due to covering a protest in 2015. She was first jailed five months after the accusation that she was a member of a terror organization and was acting under the instructions of senior executives of the organization on December 19, 2015. The second hearing of the case took place on June 26, 2019, in Diyarbakır. The prosecutor asked that she be sentenced to seven-and-a-half to fifteen years in prison. The decision was postponed to October 2019. However, she was acquitted later by the court.
In 2020, another lawsuit was filed against Beritan about her social media posts. The prosecution requested a prison sentence against Beritan for “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization” on social media. In the third hearing of the case against her, the court ruled one year, ten months and 15 days sentence in prison.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns the brutal attack against the journalist. We demand the Turkish state to release Beritan immediately. We find those brutal attempts are aiming to intimidate and silence journalists in Turkey. We urge Turkish authorities to end these attacks against reporters. Journalism is not a crime.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism closely monitors the incidents in Turkey with great concern. Since March 8, Women's Day, police violence against women journalists increasingly continues in the country. As the coalition, we urge the Turkish state to provide a free environment for journalists. Following the news is our most fundamental democratic right to report. We demand the immediate release of our detained colleagues. Journalism is not a crime. Journalism cannot be prevented.
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