Video activist Oktay İnce sentenced to prison for ‘insulting the President’

* Photo: MLSA

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The court has handed down its ruling in the trial of video activist and documentary filmmaker Oktay İnce.

Charged with "insulting the President" as per the Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), Oktay İnce had his final hearing at the İzmir Kemalpaşa 1st Criminal Court of First Instance today (November 30).

The court has ruled that Oktay İnce shall be sentenced to 1 year, 2 months, 17 days in prison on the offense charged.

'Evidence contrary to law, not definitive'

Today's hearing was attended by Oktay İnce and his lawyers Doğu Işık and Ali Aydın. While İnce reiterated his previous statement of defense at the hearing, his lawyers indicated that they did not accept the prosecutor's final opinion as to the accusations against their client.

The lawyers underlined that the evidence presented in the indictment was not definitive and constituted a contrariety to law.

"There are millions of numbers that end with 84 in Turkey; we don't accept the findings in the file for this reason," said the lawyers, noting that "the investigation reports also indicated that this was not definitive evidence." They also stressed that "the report issued by the security was not issued upon the instruction of the prosecutor's office; for this reason, it was not in compliance with the due procedure of law and, therefore, the related unlawful evidence could not be a basis for the trial."

Citing legal precedents of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the lawyers reiterated that the pieces of evidence that are contrary to law cannot be used.

Concluding their remarks, İnce's lawyers requested his acquittal by underlining that there cannot be a special legal provision providing the President with more protection. Pronouncing the final opinion as to the accusations afterwards, the prosecutor of the hearing demanded that Oktay İnce be penalized on charge of "insulting the President."

Handing down its ruling, the court has ruled that İnce shall be sentenced to 1 year, 2 months, 17 days in prison on the offense charged.

İnce: They have gotten rich in this way

Speaking to bianet after the hearing, Oktay İnce has said, "This was a case of freedom of expression." He noted that "insulting the President" as per the Article 299 of the TCK should no longer be an offense.

İnce underlined that similar cases are not aimed at protecting the respectability of the President but directly suppressing the opposition and putting the freedom of speech and expression under pressure.

"Who has to be put on trial for insult is, in fact, Tayyip Erdoğan himself," he has said, referring to the President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair. İnce has briefly stated the following:

"Today, the court gave almost a standardized ruling. But what is important here is not the sentence of 1 year, 2 months, but the struggle. Appeals will be lodged, practically; but my main criticism is against Erdoğan and his lawyers. Because they have gotten rich in this way. The party who loses the lawsuit has to meet the lawyer expenses of the opposite party, too.

"They did not come to the court and defend themselves even for once. They sent the defense statement to the court and did not come in person. And with that defense of a couple of pages, they penalized people by taking the power of the Presidency behind themselves.

"We will turn this into a form of struggle. We will unmask their real faces. Debt enforcement officers may come all they want. They may try to collect money from the people on behalf of the President all they want. This is my struggle now. We are already right. I will not give up on not mincing the matters. I will not shy away from expressing myself visually and in writing."

Oktay İnce and his lawyers after the hearing

Trials for 'insulting the President' in Turkey

Since 2014, when Erdoğan was elected the President, investigations have been launched against over 160 thousand people for "insulting the President". More than 35 thousand turned into court cases.

In these trials, over 28 thousand people and more than a thousand children appeared before the judge. The number of cases during Erdoğan's first 4-year term in office increased by 19.5 times and by 2,052 percent when compared to the term of former President Abdullah Gül.

In the trials, 12 thousand 881 people have been convicted, 3 thousand 625 people, including 10 children, have been sentenced to prison.

In 2020 alone, 45 thousand investigations were launched against people on charge of "insulting the President" and lawsuits were filed against 9 thousand 773 people as a result of these investigations.

From August 2014, when Erdoğan was elected the President, to October 1, 2021, at least 66 journalists were given prison sentences, deferred prison sentences and/or fines for "insulting the President".

According to BİA Media Monitoring Report covering the period of July - August - September, 17 journalists and cartoonists faced up to 84 years in prison in total for "insulting the President" in the 3rd quarter of 2021.

CLICK - BIA Media Monitoring Reports

CLICK - bianet Media Monitoring Database

Insulting the President (TCK 299)

A person convicted of "insulting the President" as per the Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) is sentenced to 1 year to 4 years in prison. If the offense is committed publicly, the sentence is increased by one sixth. Prosecution on this charge is subject to the permission of the Justice Ministry. However, it is regarded as a formality and it is not known, according to the reports, whether there is any person for whom no permission has been granted by the Ministry to be prosecuted on this charge.

CLICK - 'Insult' cases Erdoğan says do not exist documented in Justice Ministry statistics

(HA/SD)