The lawsuit was filed against Cem Şimşek, the former executive director of Evrensel newspaper for “insulting the President of the Republic”because of the article entitled “The German cartoonists drew Erdoğan badly”. The trial will begin on October 10 at the Bakırköy 27th Criminal Court of First Instance.

Şimşek faces up to 4 years and 8 months of imprisonment.

At the hearing held on July 6 at the Bakırköy 27th Criminal Court of First Instance, Şimşek’s lawyer stated that her client is out of town due to work and is not able to attend today’s hearing and requested extra time for the defense which will be presented in the following hearing.

The court accepted the request and adjourned the trial until 27 October (6 July).

While the hearing was scheduled for October 27, 2020, it has been adjourned until a later date as the judge was on leave (October 27).

At the hearing held on January 19, 2021, the court board ruled that the case file should be sent to the prosecutor’s office for the preparation of the opinion as to the accusations. The next hearing will be held on April 15 (January 19).

At the hearing held on April 15, 2021, the court gave additional time to journalist Cem Şimşek and his attorney so that they could prepare their statements of defense as to the accusations. The next hearing will be held on July 8 (April 15).

At the final hearing held on July 8, 2021, Şimşek was sentenced to 11 months, 20 days in prison on charge of “insulting the President of the Republic”. The prison sentence has been deferred (July 8).