Thirty-eight people acquitted after four years of trial for commenting on economic crisis

Mustafa Sönmez, Merdan Yanardağ and Sedef Kabaş at the first hearing

Click to read the article in Turkish

The court handed down its judgment today (April 29) in the case concerning a 2018 news report on Bloomberg about "the economic crisis and foreign exchange."

Thirty-eight people, including Kerim Karakaya and Fercan Yalınkılık, who wrote the report, stood trial for "violating the Capital Market Law."

In accordance with the prosecutor's opinion and an expert report, the İstanbul 3rd Penal Court of First Instance acquitted all defendants.

Lawyers of the Capital Markets Board (SPK) and the Banking Regulatory and Supervision Agency (BDDK) and the defendants were present at the hearing to make statements about the prosecutor's opinion.

Deniz Kubat, an attorney of the BDDK, claimed that the report damaged the reputation of the agency.

If the journalists would be acquitted of "market fraud" as per article 107/2 of the Capital Market Law, they should be sentenced for "damaging reputation" as per the Banking Law No. 5411, he stated.

Köksal Bayraktar, an attorney of the two reporters, said the agency's reputation was not damaged, citing two expert reports submitted to the court.

Handing down its judgment after a short break, the court concluded that the elements of the charged crime did not occur and acquitted all defendants.

What happened?

Two reporters for Bloomberg, Kerim Karakaya and Fercan Yalınkılıç, published an article about the Turkish lira's nearly 16 percent loss against the US dollar in a single day in August 2018.

Citing "sources with knowledge of the matter," the report said that the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) had scheduled a meeting with banks to discuss the country's "biggest currency shock" since the 2001 crisis.

After the BDDK filed a complaint regarding the report, prosecutors indicted the reporters, as well as 36 other journalists, economists and others who commented on the article on Twitter, for "trying to weaken the economic order and stability of the state."

The journalists are charged with "information-based manipulation" as per Article 107/2 of the Capital Market Law and failing to fulfill the "obligation of notification" of a financial crime as per Article 102.

The Capial Market Law

Article 102/1: If there is a matter implying any information or doubt that a transaction
constitutes the crimes enumerated in Articles 106 and 107, the investment firms and the capital market institutions to be determined by the Board are obliged to notify this situation to the Board or to other institutions and organisations to be determined by the Board. The Board shall determine the principles and procedures of the obligation of notification.

Article 107/2: Those who give false, wrong or deceptive information, tell rumors, give notices, make comments or prepare reports or distribute them in order to affect the prices of capital market instruments, their values or the decisions of investors, shall be sentenced to imprisonment from two years up to five years and be punished with given a judicial fine up to five thousand days.

(HA/VK)