The first hearing of the lawsuit filed against SOL Party Bolu parliamentary candidates Sinan Cantürk and Ahmet Aksoy, the party's central district chair Özer Çetinkaya and party member Yusuf Belek, after they were detained while distributing leaflets ahead of the May 14 general elections, was held at Bolu 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 14 February.
The defendants and their lawyers were present at the hearing of the lawsuit filed with the allegation of "insulting the president" due to the leaflet that read "You have one message from the morning of May 15, our dear people, let's send the robber, the liar, the oppressor...".
Özer Çetinkaya, who started his defense at the hearing where President Erdoğan's lawyer did not attend, said, "I am the central district chairman of the SOL Party. The leaflet we distributed was a leaflet prepared by our headquarters. I do not think there is any crime."
Sinan Cantürk, who said he was a parliamentary candidate during the election process, stated that no one was insulted in the leaflet that is the subject of the lawsuit. The judge read out a part of the leaflet and asked Cantürk, "Were the statements aimed at the presidential elections? Who were they directed at?" Cantürk answered the judge's question by stating that the leaflet contained statements about general elections and did not mention anyone by name.
After Yusuf Belek, who said that he was a professional photographer and was there for a photo shoot, Ahmet Aksoy emphasized that the leaflet they distributed did not contain any criminal content.
The judge again asked Özer Çetinkaya to whom the leaflet was directed. Çetinkaya replied, "You need to ask the party headquarters, but it was not directed at anyone anyway."
Constitutional Court and ECHR decisions were reminded
Lawyer Ferhat Çelik started his speech by stating that he had a jurisdictional objection regarding the conduct of the investigation and stated that the investigation of the parties was being conducted by the Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. "This declaration was shared on the party's website and then by many people. Thousands of people shared the leaflet and only four people were prosecuted. In the indictment, a part of the declaration was quoted and the indictment asked for the punishment of the clients without including the elements of the crime," he said.
The prosecutor asked the court to accept the participation request of President Erdoğan and his lawyer and requested the file to be sent to the prosecutor for the preparation of the final opinion on the case.
Accepting the participation requests, the court decided to send the file to the prosecutor for the preparation of the final opinion and adjourned the hearing to May 6, 2024.
