The court ruled to separately acquit the journalists on the grounds that the impugned action is not defined as a crime in the law

CANSU PİŞKİN, İSTANBUL

The fifth hearing in the trial of journalists Elif Akgül and Haluk Kalafat on the charge of “denigrating the Turkish nation” was held at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on 2 June 2024.

Akgül, Kalafat and their lawyers were present at the hearing, which P24 monitored.

The prosecutor repeated their final opinion on the case presented at the hearing on 19 October 2023 and requested sentencing for Akgül and Kalafat for the impugned crime.

Delivering their defense statement against the opinion, Elif Akgül and Haluk Kalafat requested their acquittal. The journalists’ lawyer Veysel Ok said elements of the impugned crime had not formed and requested his clients’ acquittal.

The court ruled to separately acquit Elif Akgül and Haluk Kalafat on the grounds that the impugned action is not defined as a crime in the law.

Background of the case

An indictment was filed against the journalists upon a complaint received by the Presidency’s Communication Centre (CİMER) over “Armenian Genocide propaganda” and the investigation was launched with the permission of the Ministry of Justice on 24 June 2021. The indictment, which was filed on 9 December 2022, listed six news items published on the bianet news website in 2015, 2018 and 2019, when Akgül and Kalafat worked for the news site, as evidence of the charge against them.