Journalist İdris Yılmaz was arrested on 22 January 2018 on charges of “Provoking the Public to Hatred, Hostility or Degrading in one section of the public” due to his social media posts about Operation Afrin. Journalist was held in Elazığ No.1 High Security Closed Prison in a heavy isolation.

In the scope of this case, his detention ended on 16 May 2018, but he was arrested again for another case in which he has been tried for the charges of “membership in a terrorist organisation”. The journalist was finally acquitted of this charge.

A permission was requested from the Ministry of Justice to proceed the prosecution on charge of “degrading state bodies” as per the Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK) and the trial was halted in October 2019. Around a year later, it was indicated that the evidence in the file did not constitute the elements of the crime defined in the TCK 301 and the related permission for prosecution was not given. The retrial of Yılmaz on charge of “inciting the public to hatred and enmity” began at the Erciş 1st Criminal Court of First Instance on December 8, 2020.

Yılmaz could not attend the first hearing of the retrial as he had caught the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Accepting his excuse, the court has adjourned the hearing till January 18, 2021 (December 8).

At the hearing held on January 18, the prosecutor pronounced the opinion as to the accusations and demanded the acquittal of İdris Yılmaz. The court board has ruled that journalist Yılmaz shall be acquitted of “provoking the public to hatred and hostility” on the grounds that there is no sufficient evidence in the file proving that he committed the offense charged (January 18).