Court of appeal upholds CHP İstanbul Chair Kaftancıoğlu's nine-year prison sentence

Photo: Evrim Kepenek / bianet

Click to read the article in Turkish

An appeals court has upheld the prison sentence of Canan Kaftancıoğlu, the İstanbul Provincial Chair of the Republican People's Party (CHP).

Kaftancıoğlu stood trial over her tweets from seven years ago on multiple charges, including "publicly degrading the state of the Republic of Turkey," "insulting a public official because of his/her duty," "insulting the president," "inciting people to animosity and hatred," and "propagandizing for a terrorist organization."

İstanbul 37th Heavy Penal Court had sentenced her to 9 years, 8 months and 20 days in prison for those charges. İstanbul Regional Court of Justice, the court of appeal, upheld the sentence today (June 23). The verdict came on the first anniversary of the CHP's win in the repeat election for İstanbul mayor.

Kaftancıoğlu has the right to appeal the decision at the Court of Cassation. 

What happened?

Kaftancıoğlu's social media posts from previous years came under scrutiny after she was elected the CHP's İstanbul head in January 2018. She was targeted by pro-government media outlets due to her tweets about various issues such as the 2013 Gezi Park protests, the 2016 coup attempt and the Armenian Genocide.

An indictment was prepared against Canan Kaftancıoğlu in May 2019 over her tweets during the Gezi Park protests. In the first hearing in July, the prosecutor requested a prison sentence of up to 17 years for the mentioned offenses.

A poem from Nazım Hikmet that Kaftancıoğlu read during her statement of defense was also put in the case file in the next hearing.

The heavy penal court sentenced her to prison in the second hearing in September 2019.

(EMK/VK)