Turkey has requested that Sweden assist the process by having a Swedish court question Joakim Medin. However, as the government does not appear to have responded, it is unclear whether the trial will take place as planned.
"My lawyers will ask the judge to postpone because I have not been heard. As I understand it, it can go two ways," says Medin.
One is that the judge agrees to postpone the hearing.
The worst-case scenario is that the judge is in a bad mood and says "no, there are no excuses, now we consider it as him trying to avoid this process", and then they declare me internationally wanted instead.
"Want a verdict"
Even though the court could impose a long prison sentence, Medin wants the trial to be overturned.
"It's very frustrating, I want it to be clear, this will affect my parental leave. We want a ruling so we can appeal it to a higher court in Turkey, but also to the European Court of Justice," he says.
Medin has no idea how the government intends to respond to Turkey, or how a Swedish interrogation would work in practice. He has not heard a word from the government since he returned home last spring.
They haven't said anything publicly or privately. Neither now nor at all since the Foreign Minister said goodbye to me at Arlanda.
He has also not been given any documents, or exactly what he is accused of.
"Persecution"
Joakim Medin understands that the Swedish side may hesitate to participate in a politicized process against a Swedish citizen abroad. However, he points out, Sweden has signed an agreement with Turkey in the NATO process that, among other things, involves cooperating with the country's authorities.
Everything indicates that this will take even more time and energy, and now it is not the Turkish government that is the reason for this, but the Swedish one.
Ideally, he would like Sweden to take a clearer position.
I wish you could still say that you find this type of persecution of a Swedish journalist, who has only been involved in journalism on Swedish soil in a Swedish newspaper, unacceptable.
Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M) writes in an email to TT that Turkey's application is being processed urgently at the Ministry of Justice, and that the government cannot give any information in advance.
"Because such applications come from authorities in other countries where a criminal case is ongoing, they are usually covered by confidentiality here in Sweden," he writes further.
Journalist Joakim Medin went to Istanbul on behalf of the newspaper Dagens ETC on March 27 last year to report on the protests in Turkey that broke out when Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested.
Medin, who has visited the country as a journalist several times, was arrested at the airport.
He was then transferred to the high-security Marmara prison in Silivri outside Istanbul, where many of Turkey's political prisoners are or have been held. Medin was held in the same ward as the imprisoned mayor Imamoglu.
Medin was charged with participating in a terrorist organization, spreading terrorist propaganda, and insulting the president.
In an initial trial in Ankara on charges of insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he was given a suspended sentence for insult.
He was released on May 16, 2025, and landed in Sweden the following day.
Although he has been released, the charges of terrorism crimes remain pending in Turkey in Medin's absence.
