Joakim Medin was arrested at Istanbul Airport at the end of March and is charged with membership in a terrorist organization, spreading terrorist propaganda, and insulting Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On Wednesday, the trial begins in Ankara for the latter charge, which concerns Joakim Medin's social media coverage of a demonstration in Stockholm where an Erdogan doll was hung outside City Hall.
Medin denies the allegations and claims that he did not participate in the protest but only reported on it, according to the voluntary organization MLSA, which is defending Medin in the trial.
Could Complicate
Presumably, there has been an investigation in Turkey since the demonstration in Stockholm, and Joakim Medin was on a list and was red-flagged, also due to his journalistic publications about PKK and its sister party in Syria. It was likely therefore that he was arrested when he came to Istanbul, says Paul Levin, head of the Institute for Turkey Studies at Stockholm University.
The trial against Joakim Medin has not received much attention in Turkish media so far, according to Paul Levin, who notes that there are many other cases where journalists in Turkey have been charged with insulting the president.
My Turkish contacts in Ankara and Istanbul have heard about the indictment against Medin but not much more. The trial has not been politicized, and I think that's good for Joakim Medin. If it becomes big headlines in Turkey, it could complicate a possible deportation or extradition of him after the verdict, says Levin.
Can Put Pressure
Paul Levin believes that there is a great risk that Joakim Medin will not receive a fair trial.
The Turkish judicial system can work quite well in many cases, but if it's politically sensitive cases, the political power can put pressure on prosecutors and judges and influence the outcome, says Levin.
Sweden's embassy has staff present during the trial. Levin does not believe that Swedish interest risks putting obstacles in the way for Joakim Medin.
I think it's important that it's marked from Sweden that they're following the trial. It's a foreign citizen, also a journalist, who risks imprisonment, and it's already known to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and even the president, says Levin.
There is still no trial date for the charges of membership in a terrorist organization and spreading terrorist propaganda, according to MLSA.
Journalist Joakim Medin traveled to Istanbul on assignment for the newspaper Dagens ETC on March 27 to report on widespread protests in the country, after Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested earlier in the spring.
Medin, who has visited Turkey as a journalist several times but has not had problems with the authorities before, was arrested directly at the airport.
He was then transferred to the high-security prison Marmara in Silivri outside Istanbul, where many of Turkey's political prisoners are or have been. Medin is sitting in the same section as the imprisoned mayor Imamoglu.
On April 23, he was charged with terrorist crimes and insulting the president, which can result in a total of twelve years' imprisonment.
