Turkish journalist Çiğdem Akbayrak appeared in court Monday for a retrial on charges of “insulting the president” after Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled her previous conviction violated her constitutional rights.
According to the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), the case, reopened in the Trabzon Regional Court of Justice 2nd Criminal Chamber, stems from a 2018 post on the social media platform X opposing Turkey’s military operation in Afrin, Syria.
In the 2018 post, Akbayrak said, “I hope your end comes, Tayyip Erdoğan. No dictator has died peacefully in their bed after doing what you have done.”
Akbayrak was initially convicted under the controversial Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes insults against the president. Anyone who insults the president can face up to four years in prison, a sentence that can be increased if the crime was committed through the mass media.
During the hearing, Akbayrak defended her actions, saying, “I exercised my right to freedom of expression by opposing war. I demand an acquittal.”
Akbayrak’s attorney, Emine Özhasar of the MLSA, said that her client acted within the scope of journalistic freedom.
“Our client used her right to free expression,” Özhasar said. “We request her acquittal in light of the Constitutional Court’s decision recognizing a rights violation.”
Representing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, lawyer Hüseyin Aydın argued that Akbayrak’s comments amounted to defamation and called for her to be punished.
Her sentence had been suspended under the judicial mechanism known as “postponement of the announcement of the verdict.” However, the Constitutional Court later deemed this ruling a violation of her rights, leading to the retrial.
The court adjourned proceedings until January 15, granting time for the defense to respond to the prosecutor’s arguments.
Rights groups routinely accuse Turkey of undermining media freedom by arresting journalists and shutting down critical media outlets, especially since President Erdoğan survived a failed coup in July 2016.
Turkey is often described as one of the world’s worst jailers of journalists, and it was ranked 158th of 180 countries in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders.
Yet the law criminalizing the insults against the president has remained in effect and has led to the conviction of more than 10,000 people since Erdoğan took office in 2014.
