Journalist Sued for Calling Deputy "Manservant of the People"

Journalist Hacı Boğatekin is facing a TL 10,000 (€ 5,000) compensation claim because he used the word "manservant" in one of his articles. The complaint was filed by Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat, Deputy of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Boğatekin's lawyer demanded to drop procedures at the hearing on 28 April. The trial is handled by the Gerger Civli Court of First Instance. The charges stem from the article entitled "Miro-Piro" published in the local Gerger Fırat newspaper owned by journalist Boğatekin . In the latest hearing, the court dealt with a corresponding expert report.

Defence lawyer: This is a social case

Defence lawyer Hüseyin Boğatekin defined the case as a "social trial". He requested to have the trial's content investigated by a group of three experts.

The journalist's attorney claimed that the existing expert report was contrary to the law and superficial. "The article was not considered as a whole; sentences were singled out from the writing and were made the subject of the trial. Making an article the subject of a trial without considering the writing as a whole constitutes a reason to reject the compensation claim", lawyer Boğatekin stated.

He put forward several decisions as examples decided by the Court of Appeals and evaluated within the scope of press freedom in the context of the trial subject including the Hrant Dink case.

"PM Erdoğan says in every meeting 'We are the people's man-servants'"

Boğatekın referred to the sentence "You are the people's manservant" with particular emphasis on the work "manservant" as the subject of the trial. "This was not said with the aim to insult or humiliate any individual", he pointed out.

"The respondent journalist said the truth when he called deputies the 'man-servants of the people'. Likewise, the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expresses in every meeting that they are the 'man-servants of this people' anyways".

Lawyer Boğatekin demand to either accept his request for a further investigation or otherwise to drop procedures.

The court dismissed the request for an "expert report prepared by three people". The trial was postponed to 30 June in order to allow additional time for the presentation of evidence. (EÇ/BB/VK)

* Picture: Ertan Önsel (habervs)