BirGün newspaper responsible editor İlker Yaşar and owner Bülent Yılmaz were fined for blasphemy due to two articles written by an anonymous columnist with the nickname “Tanrı (cc)” - god in Turkish.
According to that, Istanbul 2nd Assize Court convicted İlker Yaşar and Bülent Yılmaz of “humiliating the religious values of fraction of a society”, ordering 7 months and 17 days of prison.
While the sentence was commuted to a fine, two defendants will have to pay 4,500 liras [around 2,000 euros].
Another defendant of the case, BirGün’s former internet editor Ufuk Çalışkan, also received a sentence but the declaration of sentence was postponed.
On the other hand, the aforementioned article was removed from the website.
İnce: Not the first case
BirGün newspaper editor-in-chief Barış İnce said that the fine was imposed due to the fact that they were subjected several other prosecutions. [Usually, these cases end with a verdict but the declaration of verdict is postponed.]
İnce said the newspaper had pending trials regarding “insulting public officers” when they published an article about allegations on Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his family’s involvement in the corruption probe.(AS/BM)
* Click here to read the article in Turkish.
