Berliner Tageblatt - In Ankara, DW journalist goes on trial for 'insulting president'

Alican Uludag was arrested at his home in Ankara on February 19 over allegations of "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and "disseminating false news" over several posts on X.

Berlin has denounced the allegations against him as "baseless" and Amnesty International has demanded his release.

Held at an Istanbul jail some 500 kilometres (300 miles) from his home, he appeared before the court via video link, giving a strong defence for his innocence and asking the court to acquit him, said DW which had a team in the courtroom.

"I was detained, but I did not commit a crime that warrants arrest... I am a journalist who is being silenced," testified Uludag, who has been a court reporter for 18 years.

"I made general criticisms, I criticised the relationship between the judiciary and politics. As a judicial reporter, I criticised operations in the judiciary on social media, I want to know what is criminal about that?"

About an hour into the hearing, the judge granted him conditional release and adjourned the hearing, the broadcaster said.

Many people, from teenagers to journalists and even a former Miss Turkey, have been hit with the same charge in recent years, which observers say is often used to silence Erdogan's critics.

Media freedom campaign group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) described Uludag's arrest as "outrageous", saying if convicted, he could face up to four years and eight months in jail.

"All journalists and other media workers who are the subjects of rights violations, criminalised and deprived of their liberty solely because of their journalism must be immediately released," said Amnesty's Turkey director Ruhat Sena Aksener in a statement.

Prosecutors on Thursday opened a new probe into two senior staff at the left-leaning BirGun newspaper for "insulting the president" over a report about university students who join protests, the paper said.

The pair are Sefer Selcuk Ozbek and Gokay Bascan.

RSF places Turkey 163rd out of 180 countries in its 2026 world press freedom rankings.

G.Schulte--BTB