An İstanbul court has sentenced Kabaş to 10 months in prison over her post about Central Bank Chairman Fatih Karahan, and deferred the sentence

EYLEM SONBAHAR, İSTANBUL

The second hearing in the trial of journalist Sedef Kabaş, who is charged with “spreading false information” over a social media post she shared about Central Bank President Fatih Karahan, was held at the Anadolu 45th Criminal Court of First Instance on 4 November 2025.

Kabaş's lawyer, Selen Sınmaz, was present at the hearing, which was monitored by P24. Kabaş did not attend the hearing.

In the previous hearing, the prosecutor had presented their final opinion on the case and requested that Kabaş be punished for the alleged crime. Lawyer Sınmaz, defending against the opinion, stated, "Our client had no intent to commit a crime; she is an experienced journalist. It is impossible for him to have committed the alleged crime. She shared the Central Bank page by quoting it in quotation marks. The elements of the alleged crime have not formed. The expression she used falls within the scope of freedom of expression. Public peace has definitely not been disturbed. For these reasons, we request that our client be acquitted."

The court ruled that the elements of the impugned crime were present in the post in question and sentenced Sedef Kabaş to 10 months in prison. The sentence was deferred.

Background of the case

Journalist Sedef Kabaş posted the following on her X account on 8 February 2024: “We can expect a 150-200 percent increase in electricity and natural gas prices after the election. You can now see the impact without giving away the authority..." Following Kabaş's post and those of other social media users, the Center for Combating Disinformation issued a statement on 12 February. The statement read, "Fatih Karahan, President of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, made statements at the 1st Inflation Report Briefing Meeting of the year and answered questions from members of the press. It has been determined that Karahan did not use such an expression in his statements."

Defending herself at the first hearing held on 23 September 2025, Kabaş said the following: "I shared this quote, which was available at the time and shared on social media, in quotation marks, and added my own comment below it, saying, 'Now you see the impact without giving the authority. On the day of the incident, this statement was discussed on all news channels, and no denial was made that it was incorrect. I learned that this post was the subject of a crime when I was summoned for questioning. Since there had been no retraction or denial that this statement was false, I did not delete my post because I did not want to appear as if I was destroying evidence. If there had been a retraction or refutation, I would have deleted it and explained that it was a lie. After the lawsuit was filed, I saw in the case file that the Communications Information Directorate had shared information stating that my post was false and not accurate. I had no prior knowledge of this. I did not know that sharing it this way was a crime. I request my acquittal."