Journalist Fined for Violating Privacy over Child Abuse Report

_{Barış Terkoğlu (Photo: Twitter)}

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A journalist has been sentenced to pay a fine of 6,080 Turkish lira (~988 US dollars) for violating privacy over a report on a child abuse incident.

F.Y., a member of the "Alperen Ocakları," the youth group of the Great Union Party (BBP), had filed a criminal complaint against the chairperson and several members of the group for sexual abuse, beating, threat, robbery and forced detention. Access to a report on the OdaTV website on the complaint was blocked by Elazığ 1st Penal Court of Peace.

The BBP is an offshoot of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and was allied with the MHP and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the 2018 parliamentary and presidential elections.

A lawsuit was filed against Barış Terkoğlu, the news director of OdaTV, over the report. İstanbul 16th Penal Court of First Instance sentenced Terkoğlu to pay an administrative fine equivalent to 365 days in prison as per Article 285/1 of the Turkish Penal Code.

Reducing the sentence by one-sixth, the court sentenced Terkoğlu to pay 6,080 lira, equivalent to 304 days in prison.

The court, however, admitted that the information in the news report was correct. Attorneys of OdaTV appealed the decision. (HA/VK)