Court of Appeal Reverses Journalist Ünker’s Prison Sentence, Upholds Her Judicial Fine

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The court of appeal has both reversed and upheld the sentence given to journalist Pelin Ünker in the lawsuit filed against her by the then Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and his sons for having reported on Paradise Papers.

Ünker, the former reporter of daily Cumhuriyet, was sentenced to 1 year, 1 months and 15 days in prison and a judicial fine of 8 thousand 860 Turkish Lira (TRY) on charges of defamation and insult by the İstanbul 2nd Penal Court of First Instance on January 8, 2019.

Lawsuit was not filed in the specified period

The 1st Penal Chamber of the Regional Court of Justice (court of appeal) has underlined that the lawsuit in question was not filed in the four-month period specified in the Press Law and the trial of the journalist continued despite the fact that the criminal case should have been dropped considering that the conditions of the prosecution did not arise.

Accordingly, the court of appeal has concluded that Pelin Ünker was sentenced to prison in a manner that was both without due process of law and against the law and reversed her prison sentence.

As for the judicial fine of 8 thousand 660 TRY imposed on Ünker for "insulting Binali Yıldırım", the court of appeal has concluded that there was is no contradiction to law and upheld her judicial fine.

Underlining that the amount of the fine cannot be increased, the court has reduced the fine to 7 thousand 80 TRY.

Önderoğlu: Her prison sentence is not reversed by recognizing journalists' rights

Following the trial since its very beginning, Erol Önderoğlu, the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Representative to Turkey and bianet Media Monitoring reporter, has spoken to bainet regarding the verdict of the court of appeal. Underlining that there is not a judiciary that recognizes the rights of investigative journalists, Önderoğlu has stated the following:

"The prison sentence given to Ünker for 'defaming' sons of Binali Yıldırım is , unfortunately, reversed not because the rights of journalists are recognized, but because the four-month statute of limitations was violated.

"And what is more, the judicial fine given to her on charge of insulting the former Prime Minister has been upheld with a minor reduction by attributing an article which was not published under her name to her. All in all, in Turkey, we do not deal with a judiciary that recognizes the rights essential for the existence of investigative journalists in a democratic society. It is very hard to be in such an expectation in this period, I suppose." (HA/SD)