Mustafa Doğan İnal, the former lawyer of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, filed a lawsuit against İleri Haber news website’s Editor-in-Chief İzel Sezer and Managing Editor Batuhan Batun after the allegations of “corruption” made by Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) İstanbul MP Ahmet Şık against İnal on his social media account were covered by the website. The first hearing of the trial will be held at the İstanbul 35th Criminal Court of First Instance on December 27, 2022 at 10.35 am (July 8).

At the hearing held on December 27, 2022, the lawyers of journalists Sezer and Batan requested that the file of this case be merged with the file of the case filed against İzel Sezer and Doğan Ergün upon the criminal complaint of Mustafa Doğan İnal. The court ruled that a writ should be addressed to the İstanbul 33rd Criminal Court of First Instance, where the court case filed upon the criminal complaint of Mustafa Doğan İnal was heard, and it should be asked whether the case files could be merged or not. The next hearing will be held on April 11, 2023 (December 27).

The third hearing of the case filed on charges of “insult” (TCK 125) and “slander” (TCK 267) was held on 17 October 2023 at the Istanbul 25th Criminal Court of First Instance. The court decided to bring journalist Sezer by force to get his defense statement. The case was adjourned until March 5, 2024 (October 17).

The ongoing trial at the Istanbul 25th Criminal Court of First Instance regarding the news titled “Yargılanan yine gazetecilik oldu” published on December 6, 2021 was adjourned until June 13 for journalists and their lawyers to present their defense on the merits (March 5) .

The fifth hearing of the case filed against Sezer and Batan on charges of “insult” (TCK 125) and “slander” (TCK 267) was held on 13 June at the İstanbul 25th Crime Court of First Instance. The prosecutor gave an opinion and requested the acquittal of Sezer and Batan on both charges. İnal’s lawyer requested time to make a statement against the opinion. The court accepted the request and the hearing was adjourned until 17 December (June 13 ).