Columnist Hasan Cemal put on trial for ‘insulting’ Erdoğan, again

* Photo: Evrensel

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A lawsuit has been filed against Hasan Cemal, a columnist for T24 news website, on charge of "insulting the President".

The Press Crimes Bureau of the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office previously launched an investigation against the columnist on this charge as per the Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). The two tweets that he had posted in 2016 and 2020 were cited as the reason.

The indictment has concluded that Hasan Cemal committed the offense of "insulting the President" with his social media posts where he said, "The only criteria for being a democrat is not only to stand up against the military coup attempt but also to say no to the deepening Erdoğan coup!" on July 19, 2019 and where he said "If the Caliphate is to be reintroduced again, Tayyip Erdoğan will probably be the caliph" by mentioning T24 columnist Murat Belge's article titled "Caliph" and dated July 15, 2020.

The indictment has argued that Hasan Cemal "committed the offense of insulting the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on his social media account in a repetitive manner as part of the execution of a decision to commit the offense in question."

According to the indictment, the related social media posts of the columnist "exceeded the limits of the right to criticize and freedom of expression and were of dishonorable, degrading and defamatory nature."

The indictment has been accepted by the İstanbul 41st Criminal Court of First Instance. The first hearing will be held on April 12, 2022.

As part of the investigation, Cemal gave his statement at the İstanbul Beşiktaş Security Directorate on October 8, 2021. In his statement, he said that he had not intended to insult the President with his messages and noted that the messages were within freedom of expression.

In his statement at the Security Directorate, Hasan Cemal stated, "Insulting the President is not the case in my two retweets or in my own Twitter post. There is no insult to the President in these tweets, there is no intention of insult. All three are within the scope of freedom of expression."

Second lawsuit

After Hasan Cemal, in one of his articles, covered the speech of main opposition CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu at his party's congress on January 16, 2016 and wrote in the headline "Would-be dictator!", he was put on trial on the same charge. On March 1, 2017, Cemal, standing trial before the Ankara 24th Criminal Court of First Instance, was sentenced to 11 months, 20 days in prison on charge of "insulting the President."

Trials for 'insulting the President' in Turkey

Since 2014, when Erdoğan was elected the President, investigations have been launched against over 160 thousand people for "insulting the President". More than 35 thousand turned into court cases.

In these trials, over 28 thousand people and more than a thousand children appeared before the judge. The number of cases during Erdoğan's first 4-year term in office increased by 19.5 times and by 2,052 percent when compared to the term of former President Abdullah Gül.

In the trials, 12 thousand 881 people have been convicted, 3 thousand 625 people, including 10 children, have been sentenced to prison.

In 2020 alone, 45 thousand investigations were launched against people on charge of "insulting the President" and lawsuits were filed against 9 thousand 773 people as a result of these investigations.

From August 2014, when Erdoğan was elected the President, to October 1, 2021, at least 66 journalists were given prison sentences, deferred prison sentences and/or fines for "insulting the President".

According to the BİA Media Monitoring Report covering the period of July - August - September, 17 journalists and cartoonists faced up to 84 years in prison in total for "insulting the President" in the 3rd quarter of 2021.

Insulting the President (TCK 299)

A person convicted of "insulting the President" as per the Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) is sentenced to 1 year to 4 years in prison. If the offense is committed publicly, the sentence is increased by one sixth. Prosecution on this charge is subject to the permission of the Justice Ministry. However, it is regarded as a formality and it is not known, according to the reports, whether there is any person for whom no permission has been granted by the Ministry to be prosecuted on this charge. (HA/SD)