On Thursday, September 25, Joakim Medin will be brought to trial in Turkey, charged with terrorist offenses linked to his journalism. The charges can give nine years in prison.
– If I am convicted, it sends a very eerie signal that it is no longer safe to report on Turkey and then want to enter that country. It is completely unacceptable that you have to burn your bridges just because you monitor the development in a country, he says.
In the spring He sat locked in a Turkish prison cell for 51 days. He would only stay in the country for a few days to guard protests against President Erdoğan, but was arrested in the passport control at Istanbul’s airport.
He was later sentenced to a conditional judgment for the insult by the president. On May 16, he was released from prison and was allowed to return to Sweden.
Medin states that he has not heard anything from either the Swedish authorities or the government since he returned home. It surprises him – especially considering the commitment that existed when he was imprisoned this spring.
– I understand that I was on everyone’s lips, even theirs when I sat in an insulation cell in the spring. So then it is strange that rhetoric is not the same now that it is exactly the same seriousness. It is even worse, and even more complained charges in the second trial.
In connection with the release, he was expelled and was banned. Now the Turkish court demands that he participate in the trial via video link from Sweden, which SVT was the first to report on.
In order for it to be possible Turkey must apply for it at the Central Authority at the Swedish Ministry of Justice. When DN contacts the Ministry of Justice, they respond that they have not received any application.
– There is currently no received application for legal aid regarding Joakim Medin. There is a routine for this. If an application comes in, the handling of such a case is started directly, and by law it must be treated promptly, says Caroline Opsahl, press secretary at Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer.
Medin notes that he cannot therefore participate in the trial on Thursday.
– I myself will not be able to have a role in the trial, other than that it is about me. There will also not be a finished judgment on Thursday, as I have not been able to present my defense yet, he says.
If he does not participate it can be interpreted as refusing to cooperate with the Turkish legal process. Then he risks being internationally wanted, which would make it impossible for him to travel outside the Schengen area without the risk of being arrested and handed over to Turkey.
– It makes it very much. I hope it doesn’t go that far. But so far, it is seemingly prepared to continue this process from Turkish.
According to Medin, the Swedish court does not usually say yes to foreign cases that are politically motivated. Swedish law states that one must refuse an application for “the act has the character of a political crime”.
– Otherwise, I would be the first to write a text about what scandal it was that this type of case was included in the Swedish court. But now it is true that this seems to be that everything depends on this so as not to complicate my life even more.
The indictment applies to both membership in a terrorist organization and dissemination of terrorist propaganda. The prosecutor refers to two articles published in Dagens ETC, as well as a book Medin wrote about Kurds in Syria, as well as pictures where he can be seen with the Kurdish militia YPG. Medin denies all charges.
The chance that he is acquitted is very low. His lawyers believe that the most likely outcome is neither full freedom nor the most severe punishment, but nothing in between.
He emphasizes that the consequences of the verdict extend beyond him himself.
– It sends signals to many journalists in mass other countries. It doesn’t just concern me and my future.
Sweden works closely with Turkey within NATO‘s framework.
– If you are a Swedish journalist who writes in a Swedish newspaper, you can be prosecuted as a terrorist and allegedly violated Turkish legislation. So it should not look, says Medin.
The legal process can pull out At the time, not least because Medin has not yet been given the opportunity to testify in court. His lawyers will be in Turkey, but in order for him to be able to participate at a distance, a formal application to the Swedish Ministry of Justice is required. And that it is granted.
– If they say no, I have to start lobbing to them and make them change. Nobody has stretched a hand yet from the Swedish authorities or the government to explain what will happen. There is still time, so I hope they do.
Read more:
Joakim Medin: “In the preliminary investigation against me there was a list of other Swedish journalists”
Medin back after 51 days – this has happened
