Criminal organisation leader Sedat Peker was acquitted in the lawsuit he was on trial with the allegation that he has threatened Habertürk writer Fatih Altaylı on the social media. Defendant Sedat Peker attended the hearing at Istanbul 7th Criminal court of First Instance with his lawyer Ersan Barkın.
Sedat Peker’s defense was as following:
"I do not accept the charges imposed against me. The participant has written something against me and indicated his longing for me being detained wearing my underwear only. Then I’ve written back and stated that I was never detained wearing only my underwear but that when the police arrived, the visuals taken of me were with my underwear only. Furthermore, I’ve indicated that I found it surprising that the participant has seen these visuals even though they weren’t on any media platform. With my surprise, I’ve asked him whether he watched these visuals together with FETÖ police officers. The participant later wrote an article about me. Then I’ve informed him that I am on the death list of many terrorist organizations and other malignant people; stating that some of the incidents I experienced were with the influence of the participant. The participant therefore was influenced by these statements of mine and thought that he was threatened. He wrote that I would be responsible of anything that would happen to him. There, I’ve indicated that the mere fact that I haven’t killed him proves that I’m not a criminal organization leader. I do not intend any threat with these statements. I am finding it weird to even face charges due to this.”