Deniz Tekin
The trial of journalist Hakkı Boltan, who is facing charges of “insulting the president” and “insulting a public official” over remarks he made in 2016 about Rohat Aktaş, the former news editor of the now-shuttered Kurdish-language newspaper Azadiya Welat, was postponed on Tuesday.
The seventh hearing in the case was scheduled to be held at the Diyarbakır 12th Criminal Court of First Instance, in southeastern Turkey. Boltan, who serves as the Diyarbakır regional representative of the DİSK Press Union and reports for the pro-Kurdish Yeni Yaşam newspaper, did not attend the hearing. He and his lawyer cited the temporary replacement of the presiding judge—who was on leave—as a reason for their absence.
The prosecutor requested that certain deficiencies in the case file be addressed. The court ruled to accept the parties’ excuses for not appearing and returned the file to the prosecution for a final opinion on the merits of the case.
The next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 6, 2025.
