MEDIA MONITORING DATABASE
Lawsuit for “insult” against Cumhuriyet newspaper journalists upon Bilal Erdoğan’s criminal complaint – Hazal Ocak
RELATED PERSON OR INSTITUTION
Hazal Ocak
CITY
İstanbul
YEAR OF INTERFERENCE
2021
LAST UPDATED
08/11/2022
TYPE OF STATEMENT
Political
MEDIUM
Internet
Internet News Portal
THE TITLE OF WHOSE RIGHT IS INTERFERED
Journalist
RIGHTS GUARANTEED UNDER THE RIGHT OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Right to Impart Information and Ideas
TYPE OF INTERFERENCE
Judicial Interference
Criminal Courts
Imposing the fines
THE LEGAL GROUNDS FOR INTERFERENCE
Turkish Penal Code
Art. 125/1

A lawsuit was filed against Cumhuriyet Editorial Coordinator Serkan Ozan, Managing Editor Olcay Büyüktaş Akça, Internet Managing News Director Ozan Yurtoğlu and reporter Hazal Ocak on charges of “insult” and “libel” upon the criminal complaint of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son Bilal Erdoğan due to the news reports titled “The lucky friend of Bilal Erdoğan” and “The friend is tender tycoon”. 

The indictment has been accepted by the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. At the hearing held on October 12, 2021, the court board adjourned the hearing until a later date (October 12). 

At the hearing held on February 7, 2022, the court gave time to the defendants’ lawyers to make written statements as to the accusations. The next hearing will be held on June 7 (February 7). 

At the hearing held on June 7, the prosecutor repeated the opinion as to the accusations and demanded that the defendants be penalized. Bilal Erdoğan’s lawyer also stated that they agreed with the opinion and demanded penalization. The court ruled the deficiencies should be rectified. The next hearing will be held on November 8 (7 June).

At the hearing held on November 8, 2022, the court concluded that the journalists had committed the offenses charged and ruled that the journalists should pay a judicial fine of 2,180 TRY each (November 8).