Journalists Convicted for Criticizing Judge

Newspaper owner Selmi Yılmaz and editor-in-chief Fakir Yılmaz from the Kuzey Doğu Anadolu ('North East Anatolia') daily were handed a fine of 4,000 Turkish Lira (1,800 €) in compensation each because of an article of Fakir Yılmaz describing his impressions about another court case he was subject to himself.

The newspaper from the city of Ardahan in the east of Turkey had published an article entitled "Should I have recused the judge!" in its issue of 14 May 2009. On the grounds of this article judge Dilek Şen and prosecutor Emrah Ünal from the Ardahan Courthouse claimed an attack against their personal rights and demanded 40,000 TL (18,000 €) in compensation from the journalists.

40,000 TL demanded, 4,000 TL decided

The Ardahan 2nd Civil Court of First Instance brought the case to an end in its 6th session on 14 October. The court had previously rejected the journalists' request to send their file to a court expert.

President judge Levent Mutlu ruled for the payment of 2,000 TL (900 €) each to the complainants Dilek Şen and Emrah Ünal. Fakir Yılmaz did not attend the last hearing and announced that with all his respect for the court's decision he is going to take the case to the court of appeals.

Subject of the claim is Yılmaz' article about another trial against him for different articles published. In the writing from 14 May this year the journalist criticizes the court president's approach and also states that he did not actually know why he is being tried, summarizing a conversation between him and the court president.

Yılmaz explained that the hearing started 8 hours late and that the judge was rather stressed due to his work load. The journalist said that when he mentioned that he had not been informed about the indictment, the judge lost his temper towards him and humiliated him in front of his wife and brother.

He also told that when he entered the court room, he expressed his admiration for the court room's technical equipment and talked about the female judge's beauty and the prosecutor's loss of hair.

Criminal Case in November

The 2 judges who filed the complaint attempted to open also a criminal case against Selmi and Fakir Yılmaz. This case will be continued under charges of "defamation of a person performing a public duty" in November. (EÖ/VK)