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A lawsuit has been filed regarding a news article on bianet titled "Lawsuit against journalists who reported on bribery allegations against Erdoğan's lawyer."

Prosecutors have indicted bianet's then-editor-in-chief, Nazan Özcan, who had deposed in the investigation opened after a complaint by Mustafa Doğan İnal, a former lawyer for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

CLICK - Investigation into bianet report about 'lawsuit against journalists' 

The prosecutor who prepared the indictment is Türkşad Kunthan Uçuk, who also ran the investigation into journalist Sedef Kabaş and demanded a prison sentence of up to 12 years and 10 months for her.

Uçuk, who graduated from university in 2018, had also filed a lawsuit against journalist Hayri Tunç for "inciting the people into hatred and animosity" because of sharing news on social media.

In the indictment regarding the bianet report, Uçuk charged Özcan with "insult" and "slander."He alleged that the article was intended to "humiliate İnal's honor and dignity and reputation and prestige in the public."

Also, the prosecutor alleged that the article exceeded the limits of freedom of the press and expression and was not of public interest.

Stating that the article constituted the offense of "publicly insulting and slander through press and broadcast," the prosecutor demanded Özcan be penalized as the evidence was concrete.

The İstanbul 34th Penal Court of First Instance accepted the indictment. The first hearing will take place on December 8.

Özcan: We have no fears

Speaking about the lawsuit, Özcan reminded İnal of the Constitution. She said she wasn't surprised and she will continue to do journalism despite everything.

"To be honest, the complaint of the lawyer Mustafa Doğan İnal, who has sided with the power and is in need of using the advantage of it to the fullest, was not unexpected.

"It was no surprise either that the prosecutor who wrote indictments to punish many journalists before turned the investigation into a lawsuit

"The plaintiff got our article removed after his complaint. They want to eradicate all allegations about them, to erase history. But there is the fact that the truths will come out sooner or later, even if they are erased today.

"There is no 'publicly insulting and slander through press and broadcast,' unlike what is alleged in the indictment. Both the plaintiff and the prosecutor know this. But the matter is to find new ways to silence the press.

"Of course, this is not the first, nor will it be the last. But they should know that we, the journalists, will resist until the end to protect our freedom of the press and expression.

"I also would like to remind the plaintiff lawyer of the Constitution: The press is free, it cannot be censored. We will defend our profession, journalism, until the end.

"I repeat: We will continue to do journalism and exercise our freedom of expression. We have no fears. Journalism will prevail despite threats and lawsuits."

What happened?

The article in question is about a lawsuit against Doğan Ergün, the former Editor-in-Chief of İleri Haber news website, and İzel Sezer, the then Managing Director and the current Editor-in-Chief of İleri Haber who have been facing up to 11 years, 4 months in prison.

The reason for the lawsuit against the two journalists is the news reports regarding the tweets of an opposition MP making allegations of bargaining for bribes about Mustafa Doğan İnal, the former lawyer of the President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Mustafa Doğan İnal, claiming that the allegations in the article do not reflect the truth, filed a criminal complaint against the journalists.

The indictment against the journalists has argued that the journalists committed the repeated offenses of "publicly insulting", "unlawful disclosure of data obtained by recording non-public conversations in the press" and "libel".

After İnal's complaint, an investigation was launched against Ergün and Sezer by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

Censorship

After a complaint by İnal, access to 130 news and other content, including the bianet article subject to the lawsuit, was blocked in late July. Filing an application with the İstanbul 3rd Penal Judgeship of Peace, İnal had claimed his personal rights were violated.

The censored content was about bribery allegations against the lawyer.

Bribery allegations

In their book "Cendere"(Arbor Press), journalists Barış Terkoğlu and Barış Pehlivan claimed that İnal was involved in bribery negotiations during a legal process concerning the TEFAL company.

Workers' Party of Türkiye (TİP) deputy Ahmet Şık released an audio recording of a conversation between İnal and two judiciary officials about the case.

The audio recording in question included the blocking of the 20 million lira that TEFAL had to pay to Kent Fire Company and interference with the judiciary. Şık also asked the then-Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül about the allegations in a parliamentary question. (HA/VK)