An Istanbul court on Thursday accepted an indictment seeking up to 15 years in prison for journalist Furkan Karabay on charges of “insulting the president,” “repeatedly targeting public officials involved in counterterrorism efforts” and “insulting a public official,” the Evrensel daily reported.
The İstanbul 25th High Criminal Court ordered Karabay’s continued pretrial detention and scheduled the first hearing for December 2.
Karabay was detained on May 15 over his reports and social media posts concerning investigations into opposition mayors and remained in pretrial detention for 114 days before the prosecutor drafted the indictment.
Karabay is known for his critical coverage of investigations targeting municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), including a case against İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was arrested in March in what critics say was a politically motivated move to prevent him from running in the next presidential election.
In April Karabay received a two-year suspended sentence over remarks in a YouTube interview about claims of offshore accounts allegedly owned by Erdoğan’s family, allegations first raised by then-opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in 2017.
In Turkey insulting the president is a criminal offense under Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code. The law has been widely criticized by press freedom advocates because it is often used to prosecute journalists, politicians and even ordinary citizens for expressing views that might be critical or satirical of the president, even indirectly.
Turkey, one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, was ranked 159th out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The authorities frequently invoke broad counterterrorism laws and insult charges to prosecute members of the press.
