Former Editor-in-Chief of the bianet news website Nazan Özcan has been acquitted in the trial filed upon a complaint filed by Mustafa Doğan İnal, former lawyer for President Erdoğan

CANSU PİŞKİN, İSTANBUL

The third hearing in the trial of journalist Nazan Özcan on charges of “insult” and “defamation” that was filed upon a complaint by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s former lawyer Mustafa Doğan İnal was held at the Istanbul 34th Criminal Court of First Instance on 25 April 2023.

Özcan and lawyers for the parties were present at the hearing, which P24 monitored.

The prosecutor, who repeated their final opinion on the case at the second hearing of the trial on 22 March 2023 said that the expressions used in the news item subject to the charges fell within the scope of the freedom of the press and expression and requested Özcan’s acquittal.

The lawyer for co-plaintiff Mustafa Doğan İnal said they maintained their complaint and requested sentencing in line with the indictment.

Özcan’s lawyer Meriç Eyüboğlu stated they agreed with the prosecution’s opinion and said “The elements of the crimes of insult and defamation have not formed. We request my client’s acquittal.”

Announcing its decision, the court ruled that the elements of crime did not exist and acquitted Özcan from both charges separately.

Background of the case

President Erdoğan’s former lawyer İnal had filed a case against İleri Haber employees Doğan Ergün and İzel Sezer who had reported on the allegations of bribery in the book Cendere by journalists Barış Terkoğlu and Barış Pehlivan. İnal had also filed a complaint and requested a criminal case be brought against the bianet news website and its former editor-in-chief Nazan Özcan for reporting on the case against Ergün and Sezer with the headline “Erdoğan'ın avukatının rüşvet iddialarını haberleştiren gazetecilere dava” (“Court case against journalists reporting on bribery allegations concerning Erdoğan’s lawyer.”)

Upon İnal’s complaint, Türkşad Kunthan Uçuk, prosecutor for the Press Crimes Investigation Office of the İstanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office, had filed an indictment against Özcan. The three-page long indictment claims that İnal’s “honour, integrity, dignity, social standing and respectability had been abased” and requested sentencing for Özcan on charges of “insult” and “defamation.”