Put on trial for ‘terror propaganda’, journalist fined for ‘insulting President’

* Photo: P24 Case Monitoring

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Journalist Ali Ergin Demirhan, the editorial board member and editor of sendika.org news website, has been sentenced to pay a judicial fine of 7 thousand lira on charge "insulting the President."

While the journalist was first charged with "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK) over the news reports published on sendika.org from January 2018 to March 2018, he has been given a fine on charge of "insulting the President" as per the Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

Ali Ergin Demirhan had his third and final hearing at the İstanbul 24th Heavy Penal Court today (March 17). Both Demirhan and his attorneys were present in the courtroom. Demirhan made his statement as to the prosecutor's final opinion as to the accusations and briefly said:

"The charge was propagandizing for a terrorist organization; I have been acquitted of the offense charged, but then, I was demanded to be penalized for insulting the President. The related news reports fall within the scope of freedom of expression. Insult is out of the question."

Saying that "the case was filed according to the political conjuncture", Demirhan demanded his acquittal of the offense charged.

Handing down its ruling, the court board has ruled that journalist Ali Ergin Demirhan shall be sentenced to pay a judicial fine of 7 thousand lira (approx. 900 USD) on charge of "insulting the President."

Sharing a message on his Twitter account after the hearing, Demirhan has noted that the court case was filed on charges of "membership of a terrorist organization" and "propagandizing for a terrorist organization", adding that "the court case was resumed, saying, 'If there are none of these, let's say insulting the President.' They had to give a sentence."

What happened?

Upon a tip-off about its news reports, the Press Crimes Investigation Bureau of the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into the social media messages shared on the account of sendika.org news website. Ali Ergin Demirhan, the editor of the website, was charged with "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" due to the news reports published on sendika.org from January 2018 to March 2018 and the social media messages featuring these news.

The indictment was completed on October 15, 2018. The investigated news were brought as criminal evidence against Demirhan in the indictment.

The related news reports were titled:

"Statement by the People's Democratic Party (HDP) about the Afrin operation: They deceive the peoples of Turkey..."

"Afrin statements from the social opposition: The peace of the peoples against the war of the palace."

"If the Afrin operation was working out well, why was access blocked to the interactive map of Syria?"

"Calling for peace, EMP Bursa Chair Özaydın arrested"

"YPG published the images of tank being hit"

"The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) say, 'We didn't bomb', but the images shared by them confirm that a hospital was bombed in Afrin."

Citing these news reports and social media posts as criminal evidence against the journalist, it was alleged that Ali Ergin Demirhan "committed the offense of propagandizing for a terrorist organization in such a way to create a perception about the TSK's Afrin operation in favor of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - the People's Protection Units (YPG) terrorist organization and to legitimize the actions of the terrorist organization."

Accordingly, the indictment charged Demirhan with "propagandizing for a terrorist organization" as per the Article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK). He was facing one year to five years in prison on this charge.

It was also claimed that he "repeatedly propagandized for a terrorist organization". Accordingly, Demirhan faced an increase of the foreseen prison term by up to three quarters as per the Article 43 of the TCK.

The trial of Ali Ergin Demirhan started on October 6, 2020. Before the first hearing, it was decided to change the charges brought against the journalist. This time, he was charged with "insulting the President" as per the Article 299/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

The prosecutor announced the final opinion as to the accusations and alleged that the related news reports published on sendika.org "harmed the reputation, honor and dignity of the President."

Third sentence for 'insulting President'

Ali Ergin Demirhan was sentenced to 11 months, 20 days in prison on charge of "insulting the President" on July 16, 2019 over a tweet he posted at the night of the General Elections on June 24, 2018.

On November 6, 2020, he was also given 1 year, 2 months, 17 days in prison on the same charge due to 6 tweets he posted in 2018. (HA/SD)