Appeals court upholds Altan's sentence in Erdoğan insult case, acquits him of insulting Atatürk
An Istanbul appeals court has upheld a jail sentence given to renowned journalist Ahmet Altan for “insulting” President Erdoğan and “undertaking terror propaganda,” whereas overturned a conviction in another case concerning charges of “insulting” Atatürk. Altan is currently being held in Silivri Prision in a case related to a failed 2016 coup attempt.
Duvar English
An Istanbul appeals court on Jan. 3 upheld a five-year-and-11-month prison sentence handed down to renowned journalist Ahmet Altan for “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and “undertaking terror propaganda.”
The same appeals court however overturned the conviction of Altan in another case, in which he stood trial on charges of “insulting” Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkish Republic.
Altan is currently being held in Silivri Prison, outside Istanbul in another case on charges of “aiding a terrorist organization.” The renowned journalist was in fact released on Nov. 4, 2019 after serving three years in prison in a case related to a failed 2016 coup attempt, but his release was appealed by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which put back him back in jail only a week later.
The rulings given by the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice on Jan. 3. concerns two other lawsuits against Altan: one regarding an article he penned for Haberdar.com in June of 2016, and the other regarding an article he wrote for the closed-down newspaper Taraf in November of 2011.
On Feb. 28, 2018, Istanbul 26th Heavy Penal Court sentenced Altan to five years and 11 months in jail on charges of “insulting the President” and “undertaking terror propaganda” for his June, 2016-dated article. Following an appeal made by Altan's lawyers to the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice, the higher court's 3rd Panel Chamber looked at the lower court's decision and upheld it on Jan. 3. Altan has the right to appeal the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice's decision to the Court of Cassation, which is the last instance for reviewing rulings and judgments rendered by courts of criminal and civil justice.
Regarding the lawsuit launched against Altan for his article in Taraf newspaper, the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice's 18th Panel Chamber overturned the conviction, saying that the right to freedom of speech should be respected in line with the principles of both the Turkish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.