July 1, 2024
Journalists İzel Sezer and Doğan Ergün have won a defamation lawsuit filed against them by former AKP Ankara MP Ali İhsan Arslan. The Ankara 20th Civil Court of First Instance dismissed Arslan’s 20,000 TL compensation claim.
The case centered around an October 25, 2021, report published on İleri Haber titled "Million-lira tender game at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry." Arslan, citing this report, filed a lawsuit against then-Editor-in-Chief Doğan Ergün and News Director İzel Sezer.
During today's seventh hearing, attended by the journalists' lawyer Ahmet Faruk Ümüt, Sezer and Ergün were absent. Ümüt argued that the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had already dismissed a related complaint as baseless, emphasizing, "The non-prosecution decision is final. The news report was sourced from another site and does not constitute a definitive ruling or a criminal act; it falls under press freedom."
Ümüt requested the court to reject the lawsuit.
The court decided to dismiss the case, allowing for an appeal.
