Turkish prosecutors cited 149 reports published by the Mezopotamya News Agency as evidence in an indictment accusing 11 journalists of being members of a terrorist organisation, the news agency reported on Saturday.
The prosecutors also listed Mezopotamya among the suspects, although it is a legal entity and not an individual.
The eleven journalists were detained in October and nine of them were subsequently formally arrested and sent to prison.
The prosecutors completed their indictment three-and-a-half months later. The indictment is primarily based on 149 reports published by the news agency, as well as the testimonies of the journalists themselves and digital materials confiscated from them.
The prosecutors cited Mezopotamya’s reports as evidence of 11 journalists’ membership of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), regarded by Turkey as a terrorist organisation.
The reports cited by the prosecutors are based on statements made by PKK leaders and other PKK-affiliated organisations, as well as those related to the jailed leader of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan.
Joining a Kurdish folk dance, frequently changing address, receiving unemployment benefits, posts on social media and letters are also among the evidence cited by the prosecutors.
The prosecutors demanded prisons sentences ranging from between seven-and-a-half to 15 years for 11 journalists.