BirGün Correspondent Put on Trial Demanding 14 to 28 Months

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BirGün correspondent Onur Erem has been sued on charges of “defamation” on basis of an interview he had with author Tarık Ali. 14 to 28 months of imprisonment is demanded.

According to the report of Birgün daily, Erem had asked Tarık Ali on the interview issued on October 15, 2015 about Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s statement “We are a state of law. We have list of suicide bombers but we can’t arrest them before they take action” and Interior Minister’s statement “There is no security gap causing the explosion”.  

In the interview, Ali had noted; “The statement that human bombs cannot be arrested before taking action is such an inconsistent nonsense that I am surprised that these two jokers are still in the government”.

Consequently investigation had been launched into journalist Erem due to expression “joker” pronounced by Ali on charges of “defamation” on the basis of Article 125 of the Turkish Criminal Law.  

Regarding the Ali’s expression “tin dictator” regarding President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prosecution had also launched investigation on charges of defaming the president yet has later decided that the expression would fall under freedom of expression and thus a preliminary prosecution would not be needed.

The objection raised by Erdoğan’s lawyers against the decision before 5th Criminal Court of Peace has been rejected.

Erem had been put on trial on charges of defaming the president over his report on Google’s autocomplete feature. Put on trial demanding 14 to 28 months of imprisonment, Erem’s next hearing will be held on May 24 at 10:40 a.m. (EA/DG)