CHP’s Party Assembly Member Sera Kadıgil Released

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Republican People's Party (CHP) Party Assembly Member Sera Kadıgil who was taken into custody and sent to court for arrest on charge of "inciting people to hatred and hostility" in a tweet she posted has been released on probation.

Kadıgil was taken into custody by police yesterday (January 31) in Çağlayan Courthouse in İstanbul where she stood trial on charge of defaming President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his son Bilal Erdoğan.

While leaving the court, Kadıgil said;

"I stood trial on charge of 'inciting people to hatred and hostility'. This is not a crime of mine. This is a crime of those who have picked up a sentence out of 5-6 tweets of mine and brought that to agenda.

"The purpose is to polarize this society. I will never serve this purpose".

Kadıgil's testimony

According to Cumhuriyet daily, Kadıgil in her testimony told that the tweets in question were from the years 2010 and 2011 and noted;

"I said that I would vote 'no' in the referendum. I attended many TV programs and explained why we should vote 'no'. In addition, I recorded a video which was watched by approximately 4 million people. That is why the things I had shared in the past was brought to agenda now". (EKN/DG)