Journalist Sinan Aygül jailed after refusing to pay fine for 'insulting' AKP deputy

Click to read the article in Turkish

Sinan Aygül, the editor-in-chief of the Bitlis News website and the head of the Bitlis Journalists Association, was arrested yesterday (September 13).

Aygül had gone to the Bitlis Courthouse to attend the hearing of another case against him. Police detained him there because of a warrant against him.

A court later arrested the journalist because of his conviction of "insulting" an MP for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

In 2014, Aygül published an article about a geothermal energy project worth 450 million dollars, where he mentioned allegations of corruption against an MP for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The journalist was initially sentenced to pay a judicial fine, but intentionally did not pay it to protest the court verdict, which was "aimed at restricting press freedom," said his lawyer, Burhan Aksoy.

"My client took this decision not to pay the judicial fine and not accepting optional sanctions so that he can expose this sentence," he said.

"A judicial fine of 1,500 lira corresponds to a prison sentence of 75 days. If it's paid, he will be released. The time of payment and, therefore, how long the prison sentence will continue depends on the decision of my client."

What happened?

On December 14, 2014, Bitlis News published an article titled "Jeo-Vurgun," which roughly means "Geo-Profiteering."

In the article, Sinan Aygül wrote that the authorities had been planning to cancel two geothermal energy projects and hand them over to investors close to the ruling party.

He described MP Kiler as a "wolf," which means "experienced" or "canny" in the context of the article.

Kiler then filed a lawsuit against the journalist. The court sentenced Aygül to pay a judicial fine of 1,500 lira and deferred the announcement of the verdict. He was convicted of "insulting through the press."

In 2019, Aygül received a prison sentence for reporting on a case of sexual abuse. With this sentence, he also had to pay the fine in the previous case.

After he refused to pay the fine within due time, the Tatvan Public Prosecutor's Office issued an arrest warrant against him.

CLICK - BİA Media Monitoring Database

CLICK - BİA Media Monitoring 2nd Quarterly Report: The government is seeking its future in silencing the media

(HA/VK)