A lawsuit was filed against journalist Uğur Dündar upon the criminal complaint of Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu. Accepting his complaint as evidence, the İstanbul Beykoz Prosecutor’s Office lodged an indictment against the journalist.
In the indictment, Dündar was charged with “praising the crime and the criminal” and he faced up to 2 years in prison on the offense charged.
The indictment read, “It is beyond explanation that a clear and imminent threat to public order has arisen within the scope of the posts shared by Sedat Peker, facing a warrant for establishing a criminal organization, from abroad and his baseless allegations about state officials; within this scope, it is understood that the statements and posts of the suspect suggesting his decision to commit the same crime constituted the offense of successively praising the crime and the criminal.”
The Beykoz Criminal Court of First Instance accepted the indictment (June 29).
At the hearing held on October 12, 2022, the prosecutor’s office, presenting its final opinion as to the accusations, referred to the high court rulings indicating that there should be a committed and praised crime in order for the offense of “praising the crime and the criminal” to be constituted. The office indicated that journalist Can Dündar’s statement fell within freedom of expression as per the European Convention on Human Rights and the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. On the grounds that there was no definite or credible evidence free of any suspicion as to the committal of the offense charged by Dündar, the court ruled that he should be acquitted (October 12).
