Legal support July 11, 2024
Journalist Onur Öncü was acquitted of charges of insulting the memory of a person referred to by Sedat Peker.
The court justified the acquittal by stating, "The action of the journalist defendant, who brought up a current news story, does not constitute a crime."
Onur Öncü, a journalist accused of insulting the memory of Taner Ay, who was referred to by Sedat Peker as an "administrator of the German Ottomans," was acquitted of these charges. Peker, a notorious figure in Turkey, mentioned Ay in his social media posts.
Öncü, whose defense was supported by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), was tried for allegedly making false claims about Ay in a tweet following Ay's death in an accident in 2021. Öncü was accused of “publicly insulting the memory of the person (Ay) by making baseless allegations.”
The Ankara 7th Criminal Court of First Instance acquitted Öncü on June 24. The court's rationale stated, "It is understood that the defendant is a journalist and made this comment with the intention of reporting news. The right to inform the public is considered a legal justification. This right is a constitutional right that includes criticism."
The court's decision also noted that the group referred to as the "German Ottomans" operates in Germany and has been under investigation by German judicial authorities. Significant allegations linked Taner Ay to this organization.
The court concluded, “The action of the journalist defendant, who brought up a current news story, does not constitute a crime,” and thus ruled for Öncü's acquittal.
