Lawsuit against journalist Ahmet Kanbal for ‘insulting’ Interior Minister Soylu

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A lawsuit has been filed against Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reporter Ahmet Kanbal for "insulting" Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu.

Kanbal is now facing the charge of "insulting a public official due to his or her duty" over a message that he shared on his social media account after Minister Soylu announced that he had resigned from office on April 12, 2020.

Shortly after Soylu made this announcement, a statement was released from the Presidency, informing the public that his resignation was not accepted by President and ruling AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Lawsuit over a social media post

After Soylu announced that he resigned, Kanbal said on his social media account: "When a ship is bound to sink, it is always the mice that leave it first... It is a universal saying... When the mice leave, the ship goes down..." The lawsuit has been filed over this message.

'Victim insulted due to his duty'

The Mardin Chief Public Prosecutor's Office prepared an indictment against Ahmet Kanbal, charging him with "insulting a public official due to his or her duty." As the indictment has been accepted by the Mardin 1st Penal Court of First Instance, Kanbal will now stand trial on the charged offense.

Citing the defense of Kanbal as well, the indictment has said, "As it has been understood that the suspect insulted the victim due to his duty and sufficient evidence for opening a public case on charge of insulting a public official due to his duty as per the Article 125/1 and 125/3-a of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) has been obtained..." (SO/SD)