Turkey’s top court rejects jailed journalist Sedef Kabaş’s request for release

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The lawyers of journalist Sedef Kabaş applied to the Constitutional Court and requested her "immediate release with a cautionary judgment". The top court rejected the request yesterday (February 16).

Held in pre-trial detention since January 22, TV journalist Sedef Kabaş has recently been indicted. She faces up to 12 years, 10 months in prison for "insulting the President" and "insulting public officials due to their duty" over her remarks about President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu.

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), after the local court rejected her lawyers' request for her release, the lawyers of Sedef Kabaş made an individual application to the Constitutional Court and requested that the application be reviewed with priority.

In their application, the lawyers demanded that Sedef Kabaş "be released with a cautionary judgment and the application be examined with the pilot case method with priority." The Second Section of the Constitutional Court has rejected the request for the journalist's release.

CLICK - Court refuses to release journalist Sedef Kabaş

'There is no danger'

As per the Constitutional Court Regulations, a precautionary judgment shall be handed down in the event that there is a serious danger to the life or material or immaterial integrity of the applicant.

The top court has reportedly rejected the request by concluding that "the imprisonment of the applicant in the penal institution does not pose a danger to her life, material or immaterial integrity."

In their application, the lawyers of Sedef Kabaş also indicated that her imprisonment "violates her personal liberty and security and freedom of expression and press". To find out whether there is such a violation, the top court will review the application as to the merits at a later date.

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What happened?

Journalist Sedef Kabaş was arrested on January 22 for "insulting the President" because of her words during a live broadcast a week ago.

"There is a famous saying, 'A crowned head will get wiser.' But we see that this isn't the reality. There is also a saying that is the exact opposite: 'When cattle go into a palace, they don't become the king; the palace becomes a barn'," Kabaş said during a program on TELE1 TV on January 14.

A week later, she posted the second quote on her Twitter and Instagram accounts as a "Circassian proverb," replacing the word "cattle" with "ox."

Shortly after, at around 2 a.m. on Saturday, she was detained during a police raid. Hours later, a penal judgeship of peace remanded her in custody.

Taken into custody for "insulting the President" and arrested by the İstanbul 10th Criminal Judgeship of Peace on January 22, TV journalist Sedef Kabaş has been indicted by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office Press Bureau. The indictment has been accepted by the court.

As the İstanbul 36th Criminal Court of First Instance has accepted the indictment, Sedef Kabaş will now stand trial on charge of "insulting the President" and "publicly insulting public officials due to their duty" over her remarks about President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu.

The indictment refers to journalist Sedef Kabaş as the "suspect", President Erdoğan as the "plaintiff" and ministers Soylu and Karaismailoğlu as "aggrieved party". While Kabaş faces 1 year, 5 months to 8 years, 2 months in prison for successively "insulting the President", she faces a total of 2 years, 4 months to 4 years, 8 months for "insulting public officials".

With the indictment accepted by the court, Kabaş will face up to 12 years, 10 months in prison on the offenses charged. (RT/SD)