Perihan Mağden, Tunca Öğreten Sentenced to Pay Judicial Fines for ‘Insulting President’

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Writer Perihan Mağden and journalists Tunca Öğreten, Orhan Şahin and Mehmet Çağlar had their hearings in the lawsuit which was filed against them on charge of "insulting the President."

In their last hearing held at the İstanbul 2nd Penal Court of First Instance today (January 10), the court ruled that writer Mağden and journalist Öğreten shall be given a judicial fine of 7 thousand Turkish Lira (approx. 1,270 USD) each on charge of "insulting the President." Journalists Orhan Şahin and Mehmet Çağlar have been acquitted of the charged offence.

The sentences of Perihan Mağden and Tunca Öğreten have not been deferred. The verdict will be taken to the court of appeal.

Öğreten: I am just the messenger

Tunca Öğreten, his attorney Sevgi Kalan Güvercin and Mağden's attorney Melike Polat Bursalı attended the hearing.

Among the ones who followed today's hearing was also Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Turkey representative Erol Önderoğlu.

Presenting his defense as to the accusations, Öğreten said:

"It was an interview. I took the answers given to the questions that I asked and put them on paper. I wrote what she told me. Since Ms. Mağden is a person of letters, she used a simile. And I did not think that it constituted an element of insult. I did not have the intention to insult the President.

"I am the messenger in the incident. Today, we will see whether the saying 'Don't shoot the messenger' is still valid or not."

Attorneys requested acquittal

Speaking after Öğreten, his attorney Kalan-Güvercin referred to the related judgements of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Constitutional Court and stated that the interview in question was within the limits of freedom of expression.

As for Mağden's attorney Polat-Bursalı, she emphasized that the interview given by her client did not make a call for violence, thereby not constituting an element of crime. Polat-Bursalı requested that Perihan Mağden be acquitted of the charged offence.

Öğreten: The messenger has been shot

Announcing the verdict, Presiding Judge Nursel Bedir ruled that former workers of Yurt newspaper Şahin and Çağlar shall be acquitted.

As for Öğreten and Mağden, they have each been sentenced to pay a judicial fine of 7 thousand Turkish Lira on charge of "insulting the President."

The pronouncement of the verdict has not been suspended on the ground that "the court board does not have the positive conviction that the same offence will not be committed again."

After hearing the verdict, Öğreten said, "The messenger has been shot."

RSF Turkey Representative Erol Önderoğlu also reiterated that 54 journalists have been sentenced on the same charge in Turkey since 2014.

What happened?

After the "Erdoğan Selfie" cover of the Nokta magazine was pulled off the shelves in September 2015, Perihan Mağden, a columnist of the magazine, gave an interview to Tunca Öğreten, who was an editor at diken.com.tr news website at the time. In her interview, Mağden referred to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as "like a tiger, an animal with its back against the wall."

The interview was also published on the website of Yurt newspaper. Afterwards, a lawsuit was filed against Perihan Mağden and Tunca Öğreten as well as the then Yurt newspaper editors Orhan Şahin and Mehmet Çağlar Tekin on charge of "insulting the President." (TP/SD)