The new Turkey
Mustafa İlker Yücel.
Aydınlık newspaper’s editor in chief

08-Mar-2019

Court dismisses “MİT trucks case” against Aydınlık journalists

The trial court overseeing the case in which Aydınlık newspaper’s editor in chief Mustafa İlker Yücel and news editor Orhan Ceyhun Bozkurt were charged with “disclosing confidential information relating to the security of the state” on account of the newspaper’s coverage of the alleged transfer of weapons to Syria on trucks operated by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) has issued its verdict.

The 14th High Criminal Court of Istanbul dismissed the case based on the statute of limitations in Turkey’s press law.

However, the court ruled that charges should be pressed against the defendants on the charge of “obtaining classified information relating to the security of the state.”

The court also ruled to keep in place the international travel ban imposed on the defendants throughout the appeal process.