Söğütlü, a reporter for the news portal Gazete Yolculuk, was on trial for a Twitter post in which she commented on a case overseen by Judge Akın Gürlek

CANSU PİŞKİN, ISTANBUL

The seventh and final hearing of journalist Buse Söğütlü’s trial on the charge of “marking a public official who took part in the fight against terrorism as a target” (TMK 6/1) was held at the 23rd High Criminal Court of Istanbul on 3 February 2022. Söğütlü was on trial for her social media posts in which she commented on a case overseen by Judge Akın Gürlek.

In their final opinion submitted to the court on 14 September 2021, the prosecutor demanded that the court sentence Söğütlü as charged on the grounds that the journalist disclosed the full name of the judge in her Twitter post shared on 18 March 2019.

In her statement in response to the prosecutor’s final opinion during the previous hearing, held on 27 January 2022, Söğütlü said the public already knew about Akın Gürlek and his judgments before she wrote about him on Twitter. Asserting that her post was within the scope of freedom of expression, Söğütlü added: “Journalists can certainly comment on unlawful decisions issued by a judge who considers himself higher than the highest legal authority.” Her lawyer Ezgi Önalan had said: “Judges are supposed to be independent and impartial and therefore they cannot be among ‘officials involved in the fight against terrorism.’” Due to a change of judges, the presiding judge said the court would not deliver its judgment and set 3 February as the date for the final hearing.

P24 monitored the hearing held on 3 February. Söğütlü and her lawyers were in attendance. Reiterating her defense statement, Söğütlü requested to be acquitted. Delivering its judgment, the court acquitted Söğütlü of TMK 6/1 but decided to file a new criminal complaint against the journalist on the charge of “insulting a public official” (TCK 125).

During the hearing held on 14 April 2021, Söğütlü was told by the court to prepare an additional defense statement regarding the “insulting a public official” charge, which was not included in the indictment.