HAYRİ DEMİR
Journalist İdris Yılmaz was acquitted in his retrial for defamation related to a news report about former Erciş Mayor Fatih Çiftçi. Yılmaz had previously been fined 6,000 TL, but this decision was overturned by the Court of Cassation.
The retrial's first hearing took place at Ankara 6th Criminal Court of First Instance. Yılmaz and his lawyer, Savaş Avcı, attended the hearing via SEGBİS from the Erciş Courthouse.
“What I did was criticism, not insult”
After verifying his identity, Yılmaz defended himself, stating, “As the Court of Cassation's reversal decision indicates, there is no insult involved. At the time of my report, the plaintiff was an elected official. I did not include the phrase in my report with the intent to insult. It was a criticism. What I did was criticism, not insult.”
The prosecution, in their opinion, stated, “Although a public lawsuit was filed against the defendant for defamation, as stated in the Court of Cassation's reversal decision, the defendant's words do not constitute the elements of defamation but rather fall within the scope of harsh criticism.” They requested Yılmaz's acquittal.
The court acquitted Yılmaz, ruling that “the act in question is not defined as a crime by law.”
Case background
In 2016, following the appointment of a trustee to Erciş Municipality, journalist İdris Yılmaz wrote an article titled "Reward for the thief, handcuffs for the service." After its publication, former Erciş Mayor and then-Deputy Minister of Customs and Trade Fatih Çiftçi filed a complaint with the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office Press Bureau, accusing Yılmaz of "praising crime and criminals."
Although the initial complaint was dismissed, Çiftçi's lawyers filed a second complaint, this time for "defamation."
The Ankara 6th Criminal Court of First Instance convicted Yılmaz based on the term "thief" used in the report, sentencing him to a 6,000 TL judicial fine.
After the appellate court upheld the conviction, Yılmaz, unable to pay the fine, had his sentence converted to "mandatory public service," which he completed. Yılmaz then appealed to the Court of Cassation.
On December 25, 2023, the 4th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation ruled that “officials vested with certain administrative powers must tolerate criticism of their words and actions to a greater extent,” citing European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) jurisprudence, and overturned the conviction, leading to Yılmaz's acquittal.
