Turkish court accepts indictment seeking up to 13 years in prison for journalist Sedef Kabaş

An Istanbul court has accepted the indictment seeking up to 13 years in prison for journalist Sedef Kabaş on charges of "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and two ministers in his cabinet. The first hearing of the case will take place on March 11.

Tuesday February 15 2022 01:56 pm

Duvar English

The Istanbul 36th Criminal Court of First Instance on Feb. 14 accepted the indictment seeking up to 13 years in prison for journalist Sedef Kabaş on charges of "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as well as Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu and Transportation Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu.

The indictment demands up to 8 years and 2 months on charges of "insulting the President", and up to 4 years 8 months on charges of "insulting public officials." In total, prosecutors are seeking up to 12 years 10 months in prison for the journalist.

The first hearing of the case will take place on March 11.

Last month, Kabaş was jailed pending trial over a proverb she cited during a political discussion on opposition TV channel Tele 1 and repeated on Twitter, which Erdoğan's communications head and the justice minister condemned as a swipe at the president.

Tens of thousands have been charged and convicted over the crime of insulting the president since Erdoğan took office in 2014 after serving as prime minister for 11 years.

Between 2014 and the end of 2020, 160,169 such investigations were launched, 35,507 cases were filed and there were 12,881 convictions, official data shows.