Boğatekin was sentenced in 2015 to 1 year and 15 days in prison over his reporting about the former district governor of Gerger 

Özgür Boğatekin, the news director of Gerger Fırat, a local newspaper published in Adıyaman province, surrendered to the Adıyaman Semi-Open Prison on 26 August 2020 to serve a sentence he was given in 2015 in a defamation case.

Boğatekin was released the same day under judicial control measures after the execution of his sentence was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Boğatekin stood trial at the Gerger Criminal Court of First Instance in 2014-2015 over a number of news reports critical of Ömer Bilgin, Gerger’s former district governor. At the end of his trial, Boğatekin was sentenced to 1 year and 15 days in prison for “libel and insult.” 

Reviewing the appeal against the verdict on 9 March 2020, the Supreme Court of Appeals unanimously upheld Boğatekin’s conviction. Boğatekin received a notice from the Gerger Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on 19 August, ordering him to report to prison in 10 days.

The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had launched a separate criminal investigation against Özgür Boğatekin’s father Hacı Boğatekin, who is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Gerger Fırat, over the same news coverage. However, the public prosecutor overseeing the investigation against Hacı Boğatekin ruled for non-prosecution, saying the news reports were within freedom of expression.