3 journalists acquitted of ‘insulting’ Berat Albayrak

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Daily BirGün executives Uğur Koç, Mustafa Kömüş and İbrahim Aydın have been acquitted in the lawsuit filed into a news report about the removal of a page from Turkey's popular social media platform Ekşi Sözlük.

The lawsuit was filed by Berat Albayrak, who has recently resigned from office as the Minister of Treasury and Finance. He argued that the news report titled "Berat Albayrak - Özge Ulusoy page removed from Ekşi Sözlük" constituted the crime of "insulting a public official due to his/her duty."

The final hearing of the lawsuit was held at the İstanbul 2nd Penal Court of First Instance yesterday (November 19). The newspaper's attorneys Ali Deniz Ceylan and Tolgay Güvercin said that the news report was not about Albayrak himself, but about an access block imposed upon his request. The attorneys demanded the journalists' acquittal.

In the opinion as to the accusations, the prosecutor of the hearing also indicated that "no sufficient evidence beyond suspicion" had been obtained and demanded the acquittal of the journalists.

Handing down its judgement, the court board has ruled that İbrahim Aydın, Uğur Koç and Mustafa Kömüş shall be acquitted of the offense charged on the ground that "the imputed act was not defined as a crime in the law."

What happened?

The attorneys of Berat Albayrak, the then Minister of Treasury and Finance, filed a criminal complaint into the news report "Berat Albayrak - Özge Ulusoy page removed from Ekşi Sözlük" published in BirGün newspaper.

In their petition dated June 24, 2019, the attorneys of the Minister argued that the news story in question "shared unreal information" about Albayrak. It was also alleged that Albayrak was "insulted via the press" and "his personal rights were publicly attacked."

On September 18, 2018, the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office General Investigation Bureau lodged an indictment against the daily's former managing editor Uğur Koç, former managing editor of its website Mustafa Kömüş and grant holder İbrahim Aydın. The indictment referred to Minister of Treasury and Finance Berat Albayrak as a "complainant."

The indictment cited the petition of Albayrak's attorneys who had indicated that the allegations in the news were "groundless and unreal."According to the indictment, the news report brought the issue back into the agenda, albeit indirectly, and used the pictures of the persons in question. It also argued that all these "could not possibly be considered criticism, grave criticism or news or within the scope of freedom of press and expression."

The indictment further claimed that the news in question was reported "for reasons arising from Albayrak's duty and title as the minister" and it "damaged his honor and reputation."

Accordingly, the journalists were charged with "publicly insulting a public official due to his or her duty" as per the Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). While Koç faced 1 year, 2 months to 2 years, 4 months in prison, Kömüş allegedly "committed the offense twice" and, therefore, he faced 2 years, 4 months to 4 years, 8 months in prison.

The trial began with the first hearing held at the İstanbul 2nd Penal Court of First Instance on December 5, 2019. (HA/SD)