A Turkish court has accepted an indictment against Cem Aydın, head of the youth wing of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), over a social media post criticizing İstanbul’s chief public prosecutor, Akın Gürlek, who is known for pursuing cases against government critics, the Cumhuriyet daily reported Monday.
Aydın faces up to five years, four months in prison, along with a political ban, and is set to appear before a judge on April 30. The İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court reviewed and approved the indictment, paving the way for the trial.
The indictment accuses Aydın of “insulting a public official” and “targeting individuals involved in counterterrorism efforts” after the official X account of the CHP youth branch shared a video critical of Gürlek.
The video was reportedly a reaction to Gürlek’s involvement in cases that the opposition sees as politically motivated. Aydın was previously detained over the social media post concerning Gürlek. Following an initial court hearing, he was released under judicial supervision with a travel ban.
In the video CHP leader Özgür Özel is seen calling Gürlek, who served as a high criminal court judge in the past, a “mobile guillotine” and accusing him of working as a political enforcer rather than an independent judge.
Gürlek is known for controversial rulings against opposition figures, including the sentencing of Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtaş to more than four years in prison for spreading the propaganda of a terrorist organization and the sentencing of the CHP’s former İstanbul provincial chairman, Canan Kaftancıoğlu, to almost 10 years due to her social media posts.
He was also the presiding judge of İstanbul’s 14th High Criminal Court, which defied a ruling of the Turkish Constitutional Court ordering that a lower court retry CHP deputy Enis Berberoğlu, claiming that the order for a retrial was “interference in the decision made within the jurisdiction of our court.”
In December 2022, the same court also rejected a motion for the release of prominent businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala, who has been behind bars on a series of charges since 2017, when his lawyers took the case to an appeals court after the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court extended his imprisonment.
Gürlek is also known for convicting some members of the group Academics for Peace who drew the ire of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for issuing a declaration demanding a peaceful solution to the country’s Kurdish issue and criticizing Turkish security forces for a heavy-handed response in 2015 that saw citizens confined under long-lasting curfews in predominantly Kurdish cities under bombardment.
More recently, Gürlek oversaw the investigation into Ahmet Özer, the elected mayor of Esenyurt, who was arrested earlier this year. The case resulted in Özer’s removal from office and the appointment of a government trustee, a move strongly condemned by the opposition.
