Özcan is standing trial upon a complaint by President Erdoğan’s former lawyer Mustafa Doğan İnal. The court has accepted İnal’s request to join the case as co-plaintiff and adjourned the trial until 22 March 2022

CANSU PİŞKİN, İSTANBUL

The first hearing in the trial of journalist Nazan Özcan on charges of “insult” and “defamation” filed upon a complaint by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s former lawyer Mustafa Doğan İnal was held at the İstanbul 34th Criminal Court of First Instance on 8 December 2022.

Özcan, her lawyer and İnal’s lawyer attended the hearing, which P24 monitored.

Özcan in her defense denied the charges and spoke as follows: “The news item subject to the trial was about the court case against two fellow journalists. The reason for that court case was also İnal, who has filed the complaint against me. Anywhere in the world, it is news for journalists to be standing trial. We did our job diligently and presented all elements and background. Is it a crime for me to practice my profession properly? There is no judgment in the 2000-character long piece, just an expression of allegations. This complaint represents ill-intention to destroy freedom of the press. Are these cases not cases of intimidation against the press? If we were wrong in what we reported and İnal has some facts to put out, why does he choose to sue instead of releasing a statement?

“In addition to filing a case, İnal has had a denial of access order placed on the news item on our website. He has had access prevented to 250 news items on this subject. The denial of access to news items constitutes censorship. I am now on trial for a news item that is not on the website. It used to be that people subject to the news would publish a denial. The regular procedure and the ethical approach required publishing a denial. But İnal’s approach is intended to silence the press. It is not I, İzel (Sezer) or Doğan (Ergün) who are on trial, but journalism itself.”

Expert opinion to be submitted to court 

Özcan’s lawyer Meriç Eyüboğlu emphasized that the news item subject to the charge was not about İnal personally, but about the court case against two journalists. Eyüboğlu said that elements of the crimes of “defamation” and “insult” did not exist and said that she would present to court an expert opinion prepared by lawyer Levent Pişkin upon P24’s invitation along with her written defense statement.

The expert opinion that Eyüboğlu will present to the court presents a description of the freedom of the press and expression as defined by the international human rights conventions to which Turkey is party and provides a detailed overview of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case-law and UN Human Rights Committee practices. Examining the indictment against Özcan in this framework, the expert opinion states that the trial of Özcan over the news item in question constitutes a violation of the principles of the freedom of the press and expression established by the international conventions to which Turkey is party and the decisions of relevant international organizations.

The expert’s opinion reads “This type of trial and conviction should be avoided, as it presents a significant obstacle to the freedom of the press, is far from being necessary in a democratic society and on the contrary presents an obstacle to the establishment and development of a democratic society.”

Please click here to access the expert’s opinion in full.

Speaking after Eyüboğlu, İnal’s lawyer said “Reporting on the case is a crime. We insist on our complaint” and requested to join the trial as co-plaintiff.

The court accepted the request and adjourned the trial until 22 March 2023.

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 called 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” (“Law suit against journalists reporting on bribery allegations concerning Erdoğan’s lawyer”.)

Upon İnal’s complaint, Türkşad Kunthan Uçuk, prosecutor for the Press Crimes Investigation Bureau of the İstanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office, had prepared 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 conviction for Özcan on charges of “insult” and “defamation.”