Harasser is free, the journalist who reported the news will go to jail

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The scandal of 'Sexual Abuse' in Tatvan Captured by Security Camera! In the scenes captured by the security camera of a store in the Tatvan district of Bitlis, it is seen that an old man is harassing a girl. In the incident that happened in the Cumhuriyet Neighborhood of Central Tatvan, an unidentified gray-haired man in his 60s wearing a suit is seen to be harassing a 16-year-old girl by kissing her by force.

When journalist Sinan Aygül reported this news together with the camera footage and published it in the Bitlis News newspaper, where he is both the editor-in-chief and grant holder, it was July 2019. Dozens of newspapers and channels such as Cumhuriyet, Habertürk, Sabah, Karar and tv100 followed suit soon and also reported on the camera footage covered by Aygül.

A few days after Aygül reported the news, on July 14, 2019, the assaulter was caught in Denizli province. The family of the aggrieved child had filed a criminal complaint against the man. He was arrested and a lawsuit was filed against him on charge of "aggravated sexual abuse." When the trial ended, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison and has been released.

Despite his prison sentence over the incident that happened roughly two years ago, the assaulter is free outside.

What makes this news a peculiarity in its own right is the fact that even though the assaulter is free, Sinan Aygül, the journalist who reported the news, is now faced with a prison sentence of 5 months on the grounds that "he violated the confidentiality of the investigation."

Let's hear his story from Aygül himself:

'Security Director told me to not report it'

"First, I received information about the incident of abuse, then came the footage of the security camera. I called Tuncay Aygün, the District Security Director, to ask him whether there was an investigation into the issue. When he did not answer the phone, I sent him the images. I asked him whether they had an investigation about it. He did not respond to me. Then, he sent me a message through a colleague of mine, telling me to not make the news.

"I thought, 'If a security director is trying to prevent a news from being reported, then there must be something afoot there.' So, I reported on the issue. Before I posted the video, I blurred the face of the girl. I wrote the news report in such a way that I did not make any accusations or allegations. The camera footage was already telling everything.

"Right after the news report was published, it spread to news agencies. All national newspapers and television channels published and broadcast the images in question. Following the news, the investigation was extended and the assaulter was caught in Denizli province.

"On the same day, I learned that an investigation was launched against me on the grounds that I allegedly violated the confidentiality of the investigation. I was under supervised release due to a news that I reported back then; I was going to police station twice a week and giving signature.

"Normally, they would call you and invite you to the Directorate of Security. Then, they would take your statement. But instead of doing this, they raided my house at 10 in the evening. I went to the Security Directorate and gave my statement. The prosecutor prepared the indictment within 3 days. The court accepted the indictment and scheduled the hearing for a month later.

"At the first hearing, I was sentenced to 10 months in prison. My request for additional time was not accepted by the court. I made my defense at court, but the court had already given its judgement.

"I took the ruling to the appeals court. It found my defense justified and concluded that I should not be penalized for violating the confidentiality of the investigation. It said that the conditions were not constituted. But, this time, I was given 5 months in prison on a charge that was not mentioned by the local court and against which I did not defend myself.

"As for the justification for this ruling, the court argued that the girl was aggrieved further. In fact, the aggrieved party did not press charges. They actually made defense in favor of me. All in all, I have been penalized for something not mentioned in the indictment or in the local court ruling.

"Now, I will take the ruling of the appeals court to the Constitutional Court, but as the ruling of the appeals court will be delivered to the local court within a week, or 10 days at most, I will go to jail."

131 investigations against Aygül to this day

The incident happened exactly how Sinan Aygül has described it. Now, he is faced with the threat of going to jail maybe because he helped the assaulter to be caught by creating public opinion.

Moreover, this is neither the first nor the last court case filed against Aygül. There are several lawsuits against the journalist.

As far as what he tells bianet, a total of 131 investigations have been launched against him so far. The case addressed in this article is the 129th investigation. He has two other sentences given due to his news.

Referring to what he has been going through, Aygül says, 'It is such an odd process.' He underlines that working in the local is harder than working in the national level. He mentions that he mostly focuses on corruption and theft in public and reports news on politics in public.

Being a journalist in the local...

Then, he summarizes the hardships of being a local journalist:

"When you are in the local, it is easier for power holders to influence the court. It is easier for them to go to court. The judges and prosecutors here are inexperienced in press cases. They open files that should not have been opened in the first place.

"The last example of it is my file. Even if there is a confidentiality order on an investigation file, I can report on it if I have obtained a document myself. The offense of violating the confidentiality of an investigation is not an offense that can be committed by journalists or citizens. It is binding for only the public officials who have access to the file in question.

"For this reason, while the assaulter can walk outside free, I will go to jail because I reported the news. It is such a tragic situation.

"Yes, the press was also silenced by the judiciary in the past. Everything was done so as to prevent thefts and corruption from being seen. They have created such a culture that local journalists are not easily willing to make news on such issues. It has reached the point of self-censorship.

"As in the case of theft and corruption, they now want to do the same thing in cases of sexual assault. Local journalists give up making news because they are faced with judicial pressure.

"There are over 100 journalists actively working in Bitlis. There is a single person who is facing lawsuits, having problems and being targeted. This person is me. Because I report critical news. My other friends are journalists, too. Most of them are better journalists than me. But they always say this: 'Let's not get ourselves in trouble. Let's not have problems.'

"The indifference to the news of corruption will now also be the case for news of rape and harassment. It is already a closed community here. Most of the things remain hidden. It is not only about my prison sentence. I will go to jail, serve my time and be released. But us being silenced by the hand of the judiciary will lead to much graver consequences." (HA/SD)