Turkish comedian Deniz Göktaş was ordered jailed again on Friday before he could leave prison, minutes after a court approved his release following 56 days in pretrial detention over a stand-up show.
At 5:03 p.m., an İstanbul court accepted his appeal and ordered him released pending investigation into accusations of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and inciting hatred, his lawyers said.
Before officials had prepared the release warrant for the prison, prosecutors brought him by video link before another court on a new accusation of “praising crime and criminals.” The court ordered him jailed pending trial, citing flight risk and possible evidence tampering.
Göktaş’s lawyers said they were not told about the hearing and that a bar-appointed attorney represented him. They argued that prosecutors raised the charge minutes after the release ruling and outside office hours to keep him behind bars. They plan to appeal.
The new case concerns a passage from the same 90-minute “Ölü Deniz” (Dead Sea) performance. Göktaş joked about the low cost and ease of hiring a killer in Turkey and mentioned the Daltonlar, an organized crime group linked to killings and armed attacks.
The court found that the remarks praised the gang, legitimized its crimes and made criminal services easier to reach. Göktaş denied praising the group, describing the joke as criticism of crime and violence.
Göktaş, 32, was detained at İstanbul Airport on July 2 after returning from a trip and was jailed the next day. No indictment had been filed by Friday. The show was posted on YouTube on June 24 and had attracted 12.7 million views when a court ordered access blocked in Turkey on July 9.
His arrest prompted protests from rights groups, opposition parties and performers who accused the government of criminalizing satire and using pretrial detention as punishment.
This article is republished from Turkish Minute.
