Charlie Hebdo on trial in Turkey for 'insulting the President'

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The trial of three executives and one cartoonist of Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine began in the capital city of Ankara today (November 18).

The defendants from the France-based magazine are charged with "insulting the President" as per the Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) over a cartoon on the cover page of the magazine. 

Accordingly, the trial held by the Ankara 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance began in the absence of General Publishing Coordinator Julin Serignac, Managing Editor Gerard Biard, Editor-in-Chief Laurent Sourisseau and cartoonist Alice Petit, who face 1 to 4 years in prison each.

CLICK - Access block to vice minister's Charlie Hebdo tweet in France

Hearing adjourned until June 2022

Today's hearing was also attended by Sami Kabadayı, the lawyer of President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. After the presiding judge read out the documents in the file, lawyer Kabadayı said that they pressed charges against the defendants and expressed their requests for intervening in the proceedings.

Handing down its interim ruling, the court board accepted the request for intervening in the case "in the face of the possibility that [the intervening party] was harmed by the charged offense" in question.

The court board also ruled that the result of the letters rogatory issued by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to take the defendants' open identities, addresses and defense statements should be questioned. In the event that their identity and address information is obtained, the defense statements should be taken, the court board ruled further.

The next hearing will be held on June 1, 2022.

'People become miserable at courts'

Speaking to bianet about the trial, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Representative to Turkey Erol Önderoğlu has said:

If authorities wonder why the Human Rights Action Package has remained disreputable, the problem is not so far away. While he can seek his rights by suing for damages, like everyone else, the President, as per this special law [TCK 299] has been making journalists and citizens miserable at courts due to their unfavorable opinions.

Önderoğlu has underlined that following the first conviction of Turkey before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) over the Article 299 of the TCK (insulting the President of the Republic of Turkey), "there is no need to be insistent on this obsession and injustice."

Önerdoğlu has demanded that the Article be abolished.

What happened?

Following the murder of history teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown Charlie Hebdo's caricatures of Prophet Mohammad to pupils in class about freedom of expression a few days before, the satirical magazine's cartoons of the Prophet were projected onto government buildings in France.

In a speech a few days later, President and AKP Chair Erdoğan condemned both the remarks of President of France Emmanuel Macron, who had said that "Islam was in crisis", and the projection of the cartoons to the government buildings. "What is the problem of this person called Macron with Islam and Muslims? Macron needs treatment on a mental level," Erdoğan said, adding that Macron "needed a mental check."

In response to this, France recalled its envoy in the capital city of Ankara to Paris for consultations. In a recent speech, President Erdoğan has also called on citizens "to not buy French products."

Shortly afterwards, Charlie Hebdo published a cartoon of President Erdoğan, which has been condemned by Turkey. Earlier yesterday (October 28), top state officials, including Vice President Fuat Oktay, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın, and Ömer Çelik, the Spokesperson for the AKP, blasted the magazine.

Vice Minister of Tourism and Culture Serdar Çam also tweeted French swearwords addressed to the satirical magazine's Twitter account. "You are bastards. You are sons of b*****s," he tweeted. (EMK/SD)