Turkish journalist placed under house arrest on accusation of trying to overthrow government

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ANKARA (Reuters) – An Istanbul court on Friday ordered prominent Turkish journalist Ismail Saymaz to be placed under house arrest in an investigation connected to nationwide protests in 2013, opposition television channel Halk TV reported.

Saymaz, who works for Halk TV, was initially taken into custody on Wednesday over the charge of assisting an attempt to overthrow the government during the 2013 protests.

The move came on the same day as the detention of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the main rival of President Tayyip Erdogan, on charges of corruption and aiding a terrorist group.

In 2013, small demonstrations against plans to build a shopping mall in Gezi Park, in Istanbul’s central Taksim Square, swelled into hundreds of thousands of people protesting against the government nationwide – and prompted a harsh crackdown.

Halk TV reported that the prosecutor questioned Saymaz’s social media posts as well as phone calls and messages with the Gezi Park trial defendants, including businessman Osman Kavala, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in April 2022.

Kavala has faced various charges, including espionage, financing the Gezi Park protests and involvement in a failed coup against Erdogan’s government in 2016. He has been in prison since November 2017.

Saymaz denied the charges and told prosecutor that all of his calls and messages were for journalism, Halk TV said.

Human rights groups say 11 people were killed and more than 8,000 injured in the state response, and more than 3,000 were arrested.

Erdogan’s government said the crackdown was warranted given threats to the state, and he has called the protesters “looters” who were partly funded from abroad, a claim denied by defendants and civil society groups.

A well-known Turkish talent manager was arrested as part of the latest investigation into 2013 protests on Jan. 28.

(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Angus MacSwan)