Journalist Hakkı Boltan has been put on trial at the Diyarbakır 12th Criminal Court of First Instance on charges of “insulting the President of the Republic” and “insulting a public official due to his or her duty” over his press statement in Kurdish regarding the killing of Azadiya Welat newspaper’s former Chief Editor Rohat Aktaş in the basement of a building where he took refuge after being wounded while covering news in Cizre, Şırnak in the period of curfews in 2016.

At the fourth hearing of the case held on October 6, 2020, the expert report on the Turkish translation of the Kurdish press statement which allegedly constituted a crime was read out and added to the case file.

The prosecutor, attending the hearing for the first time after being assigned to the Criminal Court of First Instance as per a legal amendment, announced the opinion as to the accusations and demanded that the deficiencies in the case file be rectified. The judge has accepted the attorney Temur’s request for additional time. The next hearing will be held on December 24 (October 6).

Boltan did not attend the hearing on December 24, 2020 on the grounds that he had been exempted from attendance. The court has ruled that the case file shall be sent to the prosecutor’s office for the preparation of the opinion as to the accusations. The next hearing will be held on March 11, 2021 (December 24).

At the hearing on March 11, the prosecutor’s office pronounced its opinion as to the accusations and demanded that Boltan be penalized on charges of “insulting the President of the Republic” and “insulting a public official.” The court gave time to the attorneys of Boltan to prepare their statements as to the accusations. The next hearing will be held on June 29 (March 11).

At the final hearing held on June 29, 2021, the court board ruled that Boltan should be sentenced to 2 years, 17 days in prison on the grounds that he had insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the then Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu (June 29).

The Diyarbakır 12th Criminal Court of First Instance, the appeals court, found the prison sentence given to journalist Hakkı Boltan for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the then Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu low and requested that the penalty be given at the upper limit (December 19).