Journalist given prison sentence for 'insulting president' over reporting on mafia-state relations

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Mehmet Emin Kurnaz, the politics editor of the daily BirGün, has been given a deferred prison sentence for "insulting the president" and "insulting a public official" because of an issue of the newspaper's weekend supplement entitled "Rule of the Gangs" (Çetelerin İktidarı).

The front page of the supplement featured a photo of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Sedat Peker, who is accused of leading a criminal organization and is currently in exile, and a photo of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli with Alaattin Çakıcı, who served nearly 20 years in prison for various offenses, including leading a criminal organization.

Kurnaz and his attorneys Ülkü Şahin and Ali Deniz Ceylan attended the fifth hearing today (October 21) at the İstanbul 2nd Penal Court of First Instance. Ela Ezgi Yelmen, an attorney of Erdoğan, was also present in the courtroom.

The prosecutor of the hearing was Türkşad Kunthan Uçuk from the Press Crimes Investigation Bureau. Uçuk previously demanded a prison sentence of up to 12 years for journalist Sedef Kabaş and filed a lawsuit against bianet's former editor-in-chief Nazan Özcan and journalist Hayri Tunç.

Uçuk repeated the opinion he had submitted at the third hearing.

Attorney Ceylan demanded the acquittal of Kurnaz, stating that the article that is the subject of the case was "within the scope of the freedom of expression and freedom of the press."

Pronouncing its verdict after the statements, the court sentenced Kurnaz to a total of 1 year, 11 months and 10 days in prison for "insulting the president" and "insulting a public official," with 11 months and 20 days of imprisonment for each offense. It deferred the announcement of the verdict.

What happened?

On May 25, 2021, BirGün covered allegations regarding mafia-state relations in Türkiye in its Sunday supplement.

The publication of the supplement came after Sedat Peker's revelations and allegations against high-level government officials on YouTube, which were widely debated at the time. Formerly a pro-government figure, Peker had made several confessions, including storming a newspaper's office and threatening academics in the name of the government.

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had opened an investigation, alleging that BirGün's reporting constituted the offenses in question.

Trials for 'insulting the president' in Türkiye

Since 2014, when Erdoğan was elected the president, investigations have been launched against over 160 thousand people for "insulting the President". More than 35 thousand turned into court cases.

In these trials, over 38 thousand people and more than a thousand children appeared before the judge. The number of cases during Erdoğan's first 4-year term in office increased by 19.5 times and by 2,052 percent when compared to the term of former President Abdullah Gül.

In the trials, 12 thousand 881 people have been convicted, 3 thousand 625 people, including 10 children, have been sentenced to prison.

In 2020 alone, 45 thousand investigations were launched against people on the charge of "insulting the President" and lawsuits were filed against 9 thousand 773 people as a result of these investigations.

According to the BİA Media Monitoring Report published on January 10, 2022, and covering the months of October-November-December 2021, at least 22 journalists and cartoonists were faced with this charge in this period.

According to the BİA Media Monitoring 2021 Annual Report, from August 2014, when Erdoğan was elected the President, to January 1, 2022, at least 70 journalists were given prison sentences, deferred prison sentences and/or fines for "insulting the President".

Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code

A person convicted of "insulting the president" as per the Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) is sentenced to 1 year to 4 years in prison. If the offense is committed publicly, the sentence is increased by one sixth. Prosecution on this charge is subject to the permission of the Justice Ministry. However, it is regarded as a formality and it is not known, according to the reports, whether there is any person for whom no permission has been granted by the Ministry to be prosecuted on this charge.

(HA/VK)