Journalist İsmail Arı has been acquitted in the trial where he was charged over his reporting on former Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank's cousin winning a tender

CANSU PİŞKİN, İSTANBUL

The fourth hearing in the trial of journalist İsmail Arı on the charge of “insulting a public official” over his news item titled “Deniz manzaralı araziyi Varank’ın ‘kuzeni’ kaptı” (“Varank’s ‘cousin’ lands plot with sea view”) that was published in the 18 November 2022 edition of the BirGün newspaper was held at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 28 November 2023.

Lawyers for the parties were present at the hearing, which P24 monitored.

Ther prosecutor repeated their final opinion on the case submitted at the 24 October 2023 hearing and requested sentencing for Arı for the crime of “insulting a public official.” The prosecutor argued that the “title and the content of the news item leads to a belief in the public that the tendering process was carried out unduly; it constituted an attempt to create a perception that there had been fraud in the tender; former minister Varank had been offended by the reporting and that expressions such as ‘Relative of the AKP Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank wins another public tender,’ ‘The tender held for the Merkez Ankara project was also won by Varank’s cousin Sedat Varank’ and ‘lands [a] plot’ were uttered with the intent to insult that went beyond the freedom of the press.”

Mustafa Varank’s co-plaintiff lawyer stated that they agreed with the opinion and requested sentencing for Arı.

Arı’s lawyer Ali Deniz Ceylan said, “My client obtained the information and documents subject to the reporting from the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP). If a journalist is to be barred from reporting on a tender which has been disclosed on the KAP, what should a journalist report on?” Ceylan said that the elements of the impugned crime had not formed and requested Arı’s acquittal.

Announcing its verdict, the court ruled to acquit Arı on the grounds that “the law does not define the alleged actions of Arı as a crime.”

The case against Arı had been filed upon the complaint filed by Varank over his reporting that his cousin had won a tender for a plot of land with a sea view in Bodrum, which was held by the state-owned Emlak Konut Real Estate Investment Company.