Eylem Sonbahar
ournalist Neşe İdil was acquitted on both charges brought against her over two social media posts, after she told the court she had exercised her right to freedom of expression and denied any wrongdoing.
The second hearing of the case took place at the Istanbul Anadolu 60th Criminal Court of First Instance, where İdil was defended by lawyers from the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA). She had been facing charges of “publicly degrading religious values adopted by a segment of the public” and “praising crime and criminals” based on two posts she made on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Appearing in court alongside her attorney Didare Hazal Sümeli, İdil stated in her defense: “I don’t believe I committed a crime. I wrote those posts within the scope of freedom of expression. The post you are referring to remained on my account for no more than an hour.”
In response to a question from the judge, İdil said she would accept a deferred announcement of the verdict if it were to be issued.
Despite the prosecutor’s opinion requesting a conviction, her lawyer contested the charges and called for acquittal, saying:
“My client is a journalist. Journalists’ freedom of expression should be assessed more broadly than that of ordinary citizens. There was no intent to commit a crime, and the moral elements of the alleged offenses have not been established.”
The court ultimately ruled for İdil’s acquittal on both counts.
Background
The charges stemmed from two social media posts made by İdil in 2023. On Oct. 23, she quoted a tweet featuring a photo of Fırat Çakıroğlu, a far-right student killed in a 2015 altercation at Ege University, writing:
“If he hadn’t gone out to chase Kurdish students with machetes and clubs, surrounded by his gang… Had he lived, he would have been teaching children racism and hate.”
On June 5, 2023, she posted another message reading:
“There is no God, mami is a pedophile. You’re forcing me to say it.”
Following complaints about these posts, two separate investigations were launched by public prosecutors in the northwestern provinces of Kocaeli and Ankara. However, due to jurisdictional issues, both indictments were transferred to the Istanbul Anadolu Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The indictments sought her conviction for “praising crime and criminals” based on the Çakıroğlu post, and for “publicly degrading religious values” in relation to the second post.
