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Charged with "insulting the President" over a banner that they carried during the graduation ceremony at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in 2018, four students have been acquitted.
While the owner of the printing house who was facing the same charge for printing the banner has also been acquitted, the related banner carried by students in Ankara had a caricature on it that read "Kingdom of Tayyips" and depicted President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in various animal forms.
As reported by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), the final hearing of the case was held at the Ankara 11th Penal Court of First Instance yesterday (January 11). The hearing was attended by student Dilancan Yıldırım and the attorneys of other defendants.
Fikret Aydın, the attorney of Özge Kayaaslan, made defense as to the accusations and said that his client did not have anything to do with the banner and all she did was to drive her friend to the ceremony. The attorney indicated that the crime of complicity did not arise as a result of this.
Onur Can Özçelik, the attorney of Furkan Efe Dikmen, Dilancan Yıldırım and Burak Akdemir, noted that even the illustrators of the drawing were not penalized. Dikmen said, "The young people put on trial here met the President around the time when the incident happened and he withdrew his request for involvement in the case and his criminal complaint."
"Therefore, there are neither offenders nor complainants. I request the acquittal of my clients for this reason," added the attorney.
Furkan Efe Dikmen's attorney Faruk Çayır also indicated in his defense that the drawing in question was not intended as an insult, stressing that his client did not carry the banner with this intention.
Reminding the court board that there was no ongoing trial over the caricature itself, attorney Çayır reiterated his demand for acquittal.
In his opinion as to the accusations, the prosecutor of the hearing said that the drawing did not have any immaterial malice and demanded the acquittal of all defendants of the offense charged.
Handing down its verdict, the court has ruled that all defendants shall be acquitted on the grounds that there was no malice or legal element.
What happened?
Students of the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara attended the graduation ceremony, which was held on July 6, 2018, carrying a banner with the caricature "Kingdom of Tayyips", which was originally published on the Penguen comic magazine in 2005.
Three of the students were taken into custody on July 7 and one of them was taken into custody on July 9. The students were arrested on July 10, 2018. A lawsuit has been filed against four students who carried the banner and one person who printed it on charge of "insulting the president."
Students were released from prison on August 10.
The students met with President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on October 16, 2018.
After the meeting held at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, the attorney of Erdoğan submitted a petition to the Ankara 11th Penal Court of First Instance, stating that they had withdrawn their criminal complaint. (HA/SD)
