Journalist Fatih Polat Acquitted of ‘Insulting President’

* Photo: P24

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Put on trial for his article on Malta Files entitled "What do their addressees say about the allegations concerning Erdoğan family", Editor-in-Chief of daily Evrensel Fatih Polat has been acquitted of "insulting the president".

The final hearing of the case was held at the Bakırköy 31 Penal Court of First Instance in the morning today (November 14).

Submitting a petition against the expert report of Journalists' Union of Turkey (TGS) and Journalists' Association of Turkey (TGC), the lawyer of President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan requested that Polat be penalized for "insulting the president".

Making her defense against it, Polat's attorney Devrim Avcı reminded the court board that the news in question was first published on a newspaper entitled The Black Sea, which was given an award for this news later on. Indicating that a lawsuit was filed against Polat after writing about it on his column, the lawyer said, "Moreover, the client published the article as it was."

Stating that Polat asked "what they would say to these allegations", Avcı also added, "There are European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Court of Cassation verdicts indicating that people engaging in politics can be criticized harshly. And the AKP Chair is a politician and is not exempt from criticisms."

Taking the floor for his defense, Fatih Polat said that asking questions is the job of a journalist and requested his acquittal.

The court has ruled that journalist Fatih Polat shall be acquitted.

What happened?

In his article dated May 28, 2017, Polat reproduced the article of journalist Craig Shaw entitled "President Erdoğan's family in secret offshore ship deal" and published on "The Black Sea" website on May 26, 2017. The article of Shaw started with the standfirst, "Malta Files exposes multi-million USD oil tanker deal between family of Turkey leader, his close friend, and an Azeri billionaire". In his article, Polat asked, "What do their addressees say about the allegations concerning Erdoğan family".

The court first blocked access to Polat's article on daily Evrensel, then a lawsuit was filed against him. (HA/SD)

* Source: P24