Journalists Barış Pehlivan and Mustafa Büyüksipahi were acquitted of charges of "insulting a public official" following a complaint by former member of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK), Hamit Kocabey.
The 10th hearing of the trial against Barış Pehlivan, a journalist, and Mustafa Büyüksipahi, former editorial coordinator of Cumhuriyet, was held at the Ankara 19th Criminal Court of First Instance. The charges were based on their news reports about HSK member Hamit Kocabey.
Pehlivan, along with his lawyers Enes Hikmet Ermaner and Onat Doğu Akolul, attended the hearing. The prosecution reiterated its stance, calling for the journalists to be punished for the alleged offense.
In his defense, Pehlivan argued that the news report in question was within the scope of freedom of expression, noting that similar cases against other journalists had resulted in acquittals.
Following the statements, the judge ruled for the separate acquittals of both journalists on the charges.
Four other journalists acquitted on similar charges
Pehlivan's article, titled "What is on Bahçeli's mind?" published in Cumhuriyet on October 19, 2021, claimed that Kocabey had pressured a judge to release an individual accused of laundering drug money and resigned on the orders of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli.
The same prosecutor who prepared the indictment against Pehlivan and Büyüksipahi had also prepared two separate indictments on similar grounds against Halk TV General Manager Suat Toktaş and journalists Barış Pehlivan and Alican Uludağ, following complaints by Hamit Kocabey and Nizameddin Kocabey. Journalists Uludağ and Toktaş were acquitted after their trials.
