The request to postpone the negotiations came from Medin's defense because Turkey has missed sending important documents to Sweden.
It's good because it means there's no risk that he'll be wanted, says lawyer Veysel Ok.
The documents that were never sent contained a request for Joakim Medin, who risks a multi-year prison sentence for allegations directly related to his journalism, to be able to defend himself from a Swedish court.
Sweden can, according to law, refuse to handle the case here, since politically motivated prosecutions should not be taken up in Swedish court.
If Medin cannot testify from Stockholm, Turkey could interpret it as a kind of contempt of court and put out an international warrant for him.
"Want to create uncertainty"
Joakim Medin, and his lawyers, hope that Sweden will make an exception and allow the case to be handled here. After the news that the trial is being postponed, Medin says he feels "tired in the head".
The fact that the documents were never sent suggests, according to Medin, either an amateurish handling - or a deliberate demolition tactic. Medin believes in the latter.
People who know Turkey well say that this is a classic tactic, to delay and want to create uncertainty. This will eat up my time and energy - and they really succeed with that, he says.
Representatives from several international organizations were present to monitor the trial on Thursday morning, which only lasted a few minutes before the court decided to postpone the proceedings.
Everyone means that this is a way for Turkey to set an example, to mark against journalists, that Joakim Medin is a symbol that they use to scare other journalists and limit freedom of speech, says Anna Herdenstam, vice chairman of the Swedish Journalist Association, in Istanbul.
"Serious legal problems"
Also, Sweden's consul general in Turkey, Karin Hernmarck, was there.
The interest in the case must continue, because then the judge thinks that you have to follow the rules, says lawyer Veysel Ok.
According to the defense, Joakim Medin has Turkish law on his side - journalism is not a crime. However, this does not mean that it will be easy to get him completely acquitted, which is what the defense will aim for when the trial starts on January 8.
You know, Turkey has serious legal problems, says Veysel Ok.
Sophie Tanha/TT
Fact: The Medin case - this has happened
TT
Journalist Joakim Medin traveled to Istanbul on March 27 on an assignment for the newspaper Dagens ETC to report on widespread protests in the country, after Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested.
Medin, who has visited Turkey as a journalist several times, was arrested directly at the airport.
He was then moved to the high-security prison Marmara in Silivri outside Istanbul, where many of Turkey's political prisoners are or have been. Medin was on the same ward as the imprisoned mayor Imamoglu.
On April 23, he was charged with participating in a terrorist organization, spreading terrorist propaganda, and insulting the president.
In a first trial in Ankara regarding the charge of insulting Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he was sentenced to a conditional sentence.
He was released on May 16 and landed in Sweden just after midnight on May 17. But even though Medin has been released and has been allowed to leave the country, the allegations of terrorist crimes remain and will continue to be tried in Turkey in Medin's absence.
