In his defense against the prosecutor’s final opinion, Öz said, “This is not a propaganda movie. The graffiti in question reflects the atmosphere of the movie"

CANSU PİŞKİN, ISTANBUL

The fourth hearing in the trial of director Kazım Öz on the charge of “terrorism propaganda” over slogans on the wall in a scene of the film “Zer,” which he shot 10 years ago, was held at the İstanbul 24th High Criminal Court on 13 March 2025.

Kazım Öz and his lawyers were present at the hearing, which was monitored by P24.

Presenting their final opinion on the case, the prosecutor demanded that Öz be sentenced for “terrorism propaganda” on the grounds that “the propaganda made on YouTube through the film was exceeding the limits of expression of thought for the purpose of criticism as the defendant's act was legitimizing or praising the methods of members of the terrorist organization involving force, violence and threats, or encouraging the use of these methods.”

Making his defense against the prosecutor’s final opinion on the case, Öz said, “We could not delete those slogans and shoot the movie. If the character goes to Rize and there is graffiti in Rize, you must reflect that atmosphere. The movie is not intended for propaganda anyway. If you watch this movie on the YouTube channel, you will find very few negative comments in the comments below. If I had made propaganda for these organizations, the organization would have made propaganda for me. The graffiti in question reflects the atmosphere of the movie,” and demanded his acquittal.

Öz's lawyer Kürşat Bafra said, “This movie was submitted to the Ministry of Culture in 2016. The Ministry of Culture saw and supported this movie that the prosecutor filed a lawsuit against. The graffiti was not written by the client. The graffiti on the wall was made months before the movie was shot.” Bafra stated that the statute of limitations is also in question and asked that the file be sent to the competent court in Tunceli, where the film was shot. Bafra also requested time to make a statement against the final opinion.

Accepting the request for time, the court rejected the request for the file to be sent to Tunceli with a decision of lack of jurisdiction. The presiding judge said that the statute of limitations will be evaluated with the verdict. The trial was adjourned until 10 April 2025.

Background of the case

İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation against Kazım Öz as a result of a report to the Presidential Directorate of Communications (CİMER).

After completing the investigation, the prosecutor's office issued an indictment against the director on the charge of “terrorism propaganda.”

In the indictment, the slogans on the wall of a building in the movie “Zer” that Öz shot in 2016 and uploaded to YouTube in 2023, are cited as evidence for the accusation, the indictment states, “As a result of the investigation, it is understood that the propaganda in the movie exceeded the limits of expression of thought for the purpose of criticism. Therefore, it is understood from the entire file that the suspect committed the crime of making terrorist organization propaganda with the act of legitimizing or praising the methods of terrorist organization members involving force, violence and threats or encouraging the use of these methods...”