MEDIA MONITORING DATABASE
Ömer Çelik’s application to the Constitutional Court due to violation
RELATED PERSON OR INSTITUTION
Ömer Çelik
CITY
Diyarbakır
YEAR OF INTERFERENCE
2016
LAST UPDATED
27/12/2022
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
Sentence to imprisonment
THE LEGAL GROUNDS FOR INTERFERENCE
Turkish Penal Code
Art. 136

Journalist Ömer Çelik applied to the Constitutional Court on the grounds that he had been subjected to torture in detention and sentenced to prison for having reported on the e-mails of former Energy Minister Berat Albayrak.

Having covered the emails of former Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak leaked by the Redhack, journalist Ömer Çelik was detained in a house raid in Diyarbakır province on December 24, 2016. As part of the investigation launched by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Çelik was taken into custody on the alleged ground of “being a member of an organization” and “logging in an information system illegally and obtaining personal data unlawfully”;  a confidentiality order was issued for the investigation file of the journalists, including Çelik.

Çelik was held in detention at the İstanbul Security Directorate for 24 days, during which he was subjected to torture, degrading remarks and maltreatment in detention. Çelik’s lawyers applied to the Criminal Judgeship of Peace regarding the detention as well as the restriction on the file; but their application was left unresponded. 

With the indictment accepted by the İstanbul 29th High Criminal Court, Çelik was released at his first hearing on October 24, 2022. At the final hearing on December 31, 2021, Çelik was sentenced to 1 year, 8 months in prison for “logging in an information system illegally and obtaining personal data unlawfully”. With the ruling upheld by the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice on December 17, 2022, Çelik’s lawyer Özcan Kılıç applied to the Constitutional Court due to violation of rights (December 27).