A lawsuit was filed against journalist Yakup Önal for “disseminating personal data in an unlawful manner” on the grounds that he posted a video on the Şarköy’ün Sesi (The Voice of Şarköy) Facebook account, where he criticized that flagstones were laid in front of the housing estate where the house of CHP’s Şarköy Deputy Mayor Adnan Sevim was located. Yakup Önal, a journalist for 32 years, became a defendant without his statement taken by the prosecutor’s office. He will stand trial in the next months and face up to 4 years in prison over the video that he filmed in 2019 because “public loss was caused through personal gain by using position and rank” (June 16).
Önal will stand trial at the Şarköy Criminal Court of First Instance as per the Article 136 (Illegally Obtaining or Giving Data) of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). The first hearing will be held on November 18, 2021 (November 11).
At the hearing held on November 18, 2021, the prosecutor’s office pronounced its final opinion as to the accusations and demanded that Önal be penalized. However, the presiding judge ruled for his acquittal on the grounds that the attributed action was not defined as a crime in the law (November 18).
