Journalist sentenced to prison over ‘news on Erdoğan cartoons’

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Journalist Cem Şimşek has been sentenced to 11 months, 20 days in prison on charge of "insulting the President."

Şimşek, the news director of daily Evrensel, was put on trial over a news report titled "German Cartoonists Have Drawn Erdoğan Badly."

Standing trial over this news report published in 2015, Şimşek has been given a deferred prison sentence for allegedly insulting Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

As reported by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), final hearing held at the Bakırköy 27th Penal Court of First Instance was attended by Cem Şimşek's lawyer Devrim Avcı-Özkurt and Erdoğan's lawyer Furkan Berk Biberoğlu. Audience was not admitted into the courtroom on the grounds of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) measures.

While the prosecutor's office reiterated its final opinion as to the accusations and demanded the journalist's penalization, Erdoğan's lawyer Biberoğlu also demanded penalization. Taking the floor, Avcı-Özkurt requested acquittal as the elements of the crime did not arise.

Handing down its ruling, the court board first ruled that journalist Cem Şimşek should be sentenced to 1 year in prison on charge of "insulting the President" as per the Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). On the grounds that the act was publicly committed, the court increased the prison term to 1 year, 2 months. Considering the "past of the defendant, his social relations and the potential impacts of the prison sentence on him," the court has reduced the prison term to 11 months, 20 days.

The prison sentence has been deferred.

Avcı: They circumvent the Press Law

Speaking after the ruling was handed down, lawyer Devrim Avcı has recalled that the lawsuit was filed over a news report published in 2015 and criticized the fact that a sentence was given six years later.

She has also defined it as "circumventing the Press Law" that the investigation was carried out against the news report published on Evrensel website, rather than the printed version of the newspaper:

Even though the daily newspaper is examined at the prosecutor's office everyday, there is unfortunately this practice of 'We saw this news on the Internet and filed a criminal complaint immediately.'

Noting that the related cartoons were published in other media outlets as well, Avcı has noted, "Even though there are judgements of the Court of Cassation and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHT), indicating that politicians should accept harsh criticisms as much as they accept acclaims about themselves, judges do not enforce these judgements."

The lawyer has announced that they will appeal against the ruling. (HA/SD)