Eylem Sonbahar
An Istanbul court sentenced journalists Görkem Kınacı and Kürşat Yılmaz to 10 months in prison each on charges of "slander" in a case filed following a complaint by Serhat Albayrak, deputy chairman of Turkuvaz Media Group. The court ruled that no verdict was necessary regarding the charge of "insult."
The case against Evrensel newspaper's publisher Kürşat Yılmaz and its former managing editor Görkem Kınacı was heard in its eighth session at Istanbul’s 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. The journalists faced trial over two news reports: one published on Aug. 29, 2022, titled "The bribery network in the stock market extends to the Palace," and another on Aug. 31, 2022, titled "Peker's revelations reaching the Palace cannot be cleaned up by a 'brave prosecutor.'"
Neither journalist attended the hearing, but their lawyer, Devrim Avcı Özkurt, was present. Serhat Albayrak’s lawyer, Saime İrem Poyraz, also attended. The prosecutor reiterated his final opinion from Jan. 16, 2024, arguing that since the news reports were published online and reached a wide audience, the crime was committed publicly. He also claimed that the journalists' actions resulted in multiple offenses and called for the harshest penalty under "slander" charges.
Albayrak’s lawyer maintained the complaint, while the journalists' lawyer, Özkurt, defended that the articles fell within the scope of press freedom, stating: "There is no insult or slander against the complainant. Therefore, we request an acquittal of the charges."
The court ultimately sentenced Kınacı and Yılmaz to 10 months in prison each for slander but decided not to issue a ruling regarding the insult charge.
