Cumhuriyet journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül will attend their second hearing on 22 April after attracting the wrath of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for lifting the lid on how the Presidential Palace and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) sent weapons to jihadists in Syria. With the Academics for Peace facing trial the same day at the Istanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan, the day is ripe for a “festival of justice” with the presence of numerous opposition groups in front of the courthouse. Follow Sendika.Org for live updates and Çapul TV for live feed from the courthouse.

12.00 The court rejects the request to merge the Dündar-Gül case file with the Selam-Tevhid case after a 25-minute break before adjourning proceedings until 6 May at 10.00.

11.00 The prosecutor demands that the Dündar-Gül case be merged with an invstigation into the alleged Selam-Tevhid group, which the government has said was formed to justify a massive wiretapping scandal at the behest of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, the government’s ally-turned-foe. But one of Dündar and Gül’s lawyers, Bahri Belen, objected to the request, saying there was no legal basis for merging the cases.

Meanwhile, the court hears witness Emre Erciş, who said everyone was aware of what was in the trucks belonging to MİT that were used to transfer weapons to jihadists in Syria.

Addressing the court, lawyer Akın Atalay also notes that the case is both easy and difficult – easy in terms of the law in question, but difficult in terms of the political ramifications. “The Turkish public has not been convinced by this case; it’s become clear how unjust [Dündar and Gül’s] arrests were.”

At the same time, supporters of four arrested Academics for Peace that will go on trial at 14.00 have continued to gather in front of the courthouse.

10.23 Lawyers for Erdoğan and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) arrive in the courtroom. Special forces have also been deployed to the courthouse’s hallways.

10.15 The lawyers and Dündar and Gül enter courtroom

10.02 Members of Peace for Everyone continue congregating in front of the courthouse.

09.57 Dündar and Gül enter the courthouse after issuing statements in front of the building.

09.55 Gül says the pressure against the media and journalists is continuing at full steam, adding that while they were being tried without arrest, there was actually no basis at all for the trial. Noting that they would demand today that the case be dropped, Dündar says, “Today we will get the arrested academics out. We’re attaching more importance to their case than our own.”

“Medyanın üzerindeki baskı aynı şekilde devam ediyor. Tek fark şu an tutuklu olmamız” #ErdemGül #Barışİçin pic.twitter.com/zehpNaINdY

— Barış İçin Herkes (@barisicinherkes) 22 Nisan 2016

09.48 Journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül arrive at the courthouse, issuing a short statement.

09.32 Groups begin to gather in the garden of Istanbul’s Çağlayan Courthouse.

Erdoğan tried at first hearing

After Cumhuriyet journalist Can Dündar and Erdem Gül were released based on a Constitutional Court decision in late February, they arrived for their first hearing on 25 March. Two days before the hearing, the prosecutor demanded that the case be tried in secret, prompting lawyer Akın Atalay to read the justification in a loud voice, adding: “There, it’s been read. Everyone heard it. There’s no secrecy anymore.”

Judges attempted to remove MPs from the courtroom at the first hearing, but the lawmakers precipitated a crisis when they refused to leave, resulting in a one-week postponement. After the journalists took selfies with consuls-general who were observing the case, Erdoğan was left to shout “Did they get permission for this?” and “They’re cheek to cheek.”

MPs returned again on 1 April, while consuls-general said on social media that they would follow the case. The court, however, refused a request by 457 lawyers to join the case.

While Gül deployed a “journalistic” defense, Dündar opted for what the prosecutor called a “broken defense.” At the end of the 1 April hearing, the prosecutor did not demand their re-arrest, with the trial postponed until 22 April instead. Dündar’s defense, meanwhile, transformed the hearing into a historic occasion in which – in his words – “those trying him were now being tried.”

Sendika.Org