The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office sought separate prison sentences of up to 14 years and 10 months for journalists Murat Ağırel and İsmail Saymaz over statements they made about Trade Minister Ömer Bolat on Sözcü TV on 7 October. Prosecutors charged both journalists with publicly insulting a public official because of their duty, slander, publicly disseminating misleading information, unlawfully providing or obtaining personal data and disclosing commercial, banking or customer secrets. They argued that the allegations were not supported by concrete information or documents and treated the disclosure of Bolat’s investment information as personal data and customer secrets. The journalists were detained after the program and released under judicial control, then placed under house arrest after prosecutors appealed. Ağırel was arrested on 19 October in a separate money laundering investigation into the Sarıgül family. Saymaz remained under house arrest.
4 November 2026
Evrensel / DHA