Yılmaz was convicted for his reporting based on footage showing a group of village guards in the eastern town of Erciş harassing a child.
In its verdict concerning Yılmaz’s appeal against the sentence, the 7th Criminal Chamber of the Erzurum Regional Court of Justice ruled that the elements of the offense “insult” were not present in Yılmaz’s reporting and that his coverage should be assessed as a part of the freedom of the press.