This week, the hearings of a number of freedom of expression trials will be held. Below is the list of these hearing
July 18, Tuesday
- The first hearing of the trial against journalist Furkan Karabay will be held at the Istanbul 1st Civil Court of First Instance at 9.30. The suit for damages demanding 100 000 TL was brought against Karabay by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s former lawyer Mustafa Doğan İnal for an “unjust attack on personal rights” on the grounds of a social media post from 22 February 2023.
- The fifth hearing of the suit for damages brought by the Demirören Media Group against Medya Koridoru’s proprietor and editor-in-chief Canan Kaya, whom MLSA represents in the court, will be held in the İstanbul 39th Civil Court of First Instance at 10.45. Citing Kaya’s news article titled “Demirören yolun sonuna yaklaşıyor: Ziraat Bankası ‘kayyumları’ ne istedi? [End of the road for Demirören: What did Ziraat Bank ‘trustees’ want?]” published on Medya Koridoru on November 26, 2021, the lawyers of Demirören Media Group claim that Kaya damaged “the commercial reputation” and violated “the personal rights”' of “a respectable company which serves the public interest.
- The second hearing in the trial against TELE1 Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ who faces charges of “insulting the president” on the grounds of a series of column articles published under the title “Fascism and Islamic Fascism”between April 10 and May 29, 2022, will be held at Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance at 13.40
July 19, Wednesday
● The first hearing of the case in which journalist Ruşen Takva is tried on charges of "publicly disseminating misleading information to the public" (Turkish Penal Code 217/A) on the grounds of a social media post about an alleged involvement of Hakkari MHP Provincial Chair Fatih Özbek in an armed attack on 7 December 2022 will be held at Hakkari 1st Criminal Court of First Instance at 9.20.
