Man faces prison term over sexist attack on Başak Demirtaş

* Photo: Twitter / Başak Demirtaş

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A lawsuit has been filed against the man named V.M., who shared sexist and insulting social media messages about Başak Demirtaş, the wife of arrested former Co-Chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş. Facing 9 months, 15 days to 7 years, 4 months in prison over these messages, the defendant will now stand trial on charges of "publicly inciting to commit crimes" and "public insult."

Prepared by the Beykoz Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the indictment has been accepted by the Beykoz 2nd Penal Court of First Instance, which means that the investigation is completed and the prosecution will start. Accordingly, V.M. will have his first hearing on January 12, 2021.

House arrest lifted

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), the preliminary proceedings report prepared by the court has recalled that after the defendant was arrested on June 16, 2020 as part of the investigation launched by the Sakarya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, he was released one day later and the court imposed judicial control measures on the defendant in the form of an international travel ban and house arrest.

Indicating that these judicial control measures were imposed until the investigation was concluded, the report has said that the prosecution has begun with the acceptance of the indictment and, for this reason, the judicial control measures previously imposed on V.M. have been lifted.

What happened?

A sexist tweet was posted about Başak Demirtaş from the Twitter account "vedatmuti7". On June 14, Sakarya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office announced that V.Y. was taken into custody after the tweet was posted from this account. Later in the day, his step-uncle V.M. was also detained.

The now-suspended account had a "green ball" emoji, which is used by the supporters of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Whether he has a relation to the party has not been clarified by authorities.

Tweets against Başak Demirtaş caused an outrage on social media, including opposition politicians such as Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu and CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's wife Selvi Kılıçdaroğlu, announcing support for her.

Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül also denounced the incident. Presidency's Communications Director Fahrettin Altun also said, "It is obvious to our nation that who these immoral people are and what they serve for by making those leaning to the terrorist organization aggrieved."

In a tweet, Başak Demirtaş thanked everyone for "solidarity." (EKN/SD)