Author Gökhan Yavuzel, who was charged with “openly provoking the public to hatred and hostility (Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code)” with reference to his article titled “The Relationship Between Art and Power”, was acquitted. In his reasoned judgment, the judge stated that the elements of the offense regulated in Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code are clear and reasoned that the elements of the offense were not present in the cited article.As evidence against Yavuzel, the prosecution presents a social media post Yavuzel had shared on his social media and which contained Yavuzel’s article titled “The Relationship Between Art and Power” published in GazeteDavul.The seventh hearing of the trial in which author and poet Gökhan Yavuzel faces “openly provoking the public to hatred and hostility” charges was held in the Ankara 7th Criminal Court of First Instance on May 3rd. Presenting his final opinion as to the accusations, the prosecutor requested the acquittal of the author, stating that the words taken from Yavuzel's article in the indictment did not constitute the elements of the offense of “provoking the public to hatred and hostility.”Following the prosecutor’s opinion, the judge pronounced his verdict and acquitted Yavuzel on the grounds that the elements of the alleged offense did not occur.*This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The work may be used and redistributed for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution to the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA).
Medya ve Hukuk Çalışmaları Derneği (MLSA) haber alma hakkı, ifade özgürlüğü ve basın özgürlüğü alanlarında faaliyet yürüten bir sivil toplum kuruluşudur. Derneğimiz başta gazeteciler olmak üzere mesleki faaliyetleri sebebiyle yargılanan kişilere hukuki destek vermektedir.
