San Francisco Frontiers - Swedish reporter gets suspended term over Erdogan insult

Joakim Medin, who works for Swedish newspaper Dagens ETC, was detained at Istanbul airport on March 27 when he flew in to cover the mass protests gripping Turkey.

He was arrested on two separate charges: insulting the president and belonging to a terror organisation, and jailed a day later at Istanbul's Silivri prison.

After handing Medin the suspended sentence, the judge ordered his release, according to the correspondent and MLSA, the Turkish rights group defending him.

But because of the second charge he is facing -- for which a trial date has not yet been set -- Medin will remain behind bars.

Prosecutors say Medin attended a protest in Stockholm in January 2023 where protesters strung up an effigy of Erdogan.

That effigy reappeared months later, holding an LGBTQ flag on a Kurdish activists' float at Stockholm's Pride Parade.

According to the indictment, which Medin said he had not seen, the offending images were used to illustrate several of his articles that he had posted online.

Addressing the court via video link from Silivri prison, Medin said he was not even in Sweden at the time of January rally.

Although he posted links to articles he'd written about Sweden's NATO accession -- which was initially blocked by Turkey -- he was not responsible for the photo selection.

- 'I wasn't even there' -

"I was not at this event, I was in Germany for work. I didn't know about plans for his event, and I didn't share any photo or video about it on social media," Medin told the court via video link.

"I did not insult the president. I was assigned to write the article. The photo was selected by editors, I was just doing my job," he said, asking to be released so he could return to his wife who is seven months pregnant with their first child.

His lawyer Veysel Ok urged the court to acquit him.

"Medin has no motivation to knowingly and willingly insult the president. The NATO process was vital for Sweden because a Russian attack was on the agenda, my client reported on this process," Ok told the court.

"He has nothing to do with the photos; he just shared the news. I demand my client's acquittal," the lawyer added.

Many people, from teenagers to journalists and even a former Miss Turkey, have been charged with insulting the president, an offence often used to muffle dissent.

Because of the second charge against him, Medin will remain in prison until a trial date is set.

"It's undemocratic he was convicted in this first case and we deeply regret that the decision to free him isn't enough to ensure his release today because of the second case," said Reporters Without Borders' Erol Onderoglu.

"We urge the Turkish authorities to release the journalist, to quickly set a date for the second trial and drop the charges," he said.

"Everybody in the courtroom realised he was totally innocent, the only thing he did was journalism," Jonas Sjostedt, a European Parliament member, told AFP at the Ankara courthouse.

Turkey ranks 158 of 180 countries in RSF's press freedom index.

-'Punished' for being a journalist -

The charge of belonging to a terror organisation is much more serious. If convicted, he could face up to nine years in prison.

Medin has denied the charges, with MLSA's co-director Baris Altintas telling AFP the allegations were based on social media posts, news stories and books written "solely as a result of his journalistic activities".

"It's shameful someone who is engaged in journalism should be punished in this way but it's not surprising when you consider the state of freedom of expression in Turkey," she said.

Turkey was gripped by widespread protests last month over the jailing of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu -- Erdogan's biggest rival, with police arresting nearly 2,000 people, including journalists.

Turkey's ties with Sweden soured when Ankara initially refused to ratify Stockholm's bid to join NATO after Russia's Ukraine invasion with Erdogan demanding a crackdown on Kurdish militants in Sweden.

Ankara eventually relented two years later.

E.Cruz--SFF