After an airstrike claimed the lives of 34 soldiers in Syria’s Idlib on February 27, prosecutors announced that an investigation was launched into “provocative” messages shared on social media. In the scope of this investigation, following the developments in Syria, journalist Alptekin Dursunoğlu, the Editor-in-Chief of Yakın Doğu Haber news website, has been detained over his social media messages about the ongoing war in Syria’s Idlib.
Dursunoğlu was referred to the court on duty by the prosecutor at Istanbul Courthouse and arrested on the grounds of “provoking the Public to Hatred, Hostility or Degrading” (2 March)
At his first hearing held on March 16, the court board found journalist guilty and sentenced him to 50 days in prison for “praising crime or a criminal” under the Article 215 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). The board has then turned this prison sentence into a judicial fine of 1,000 Turkish Lira (TRY) and ruled for the release of the journalist (16 March).
