In the lawsuit filed against Media and Law Workers’ Association (MLSA) Co-Director Veysel Ok due to “public denigration of judicial bodies of state” during an interview he gave in 2015, the court issued a verdict of “non-jurisdiction.”
Veysel Ok is on trial with an imprisonment claim for up to two years just because of expressing that the judiciary is “one-coloured and one-opinionated” in his interview published on the December 25, 2015 issue of Özgür Düşünce Daily, which was later shut down with an emergency decree. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has filed a criminal complaint against Ok on December 29, 2015, the indictment was then prepared in August 2016.
The course of trial
In the latest hearing on July 4, Istanbul 37th Criminal Court of First Instance judge Hakkı Yalçınkaya indicated that he can not ‘remain unbiased’ in this case since Ok is the lawyer of Ahmet Altan in the lawsuit Yalçınkaya takes place as the complainant-participant; withdrawing from the case.
In the tenth hearing of the case held yesterday, this time, the newly-assigned judge Sevda Karaahmetoğlu indicated that in accordance with the Press Code and the Turkish Criminal Code, press charges are within the authority of Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance and sent the file to the court. In the verdict, Karaahmetoğlu indicated that objection is an option.
Expressions of Ok subject to charges
The section of the interview that takes place in the indictment is as following: “Perhaps those judges [at the time] were formalists, but justice worked one way or another. A judge or prosecutor having the slightest respect for law would pay attention to our defenses and issue non-prosecution. It was also a high chance to come across judges and prosecutors who deemed freedom of expression highly. The main difference these days is that the members of the judiciary is one-coloured. Almost all judicial members we have seen in the last two years are one-coloured, one-opinionated.” We also see the Criminal Judges of Peace. Neither defense, nor objection works in the lawsuits in these courts. Now, almost all journalists keep having trials at 12 criminal judicatures of peace. The opinions and sympathies of those judges are quite certain. Therefore, in this respect, no matter how strong your defense is, it can not have an influence on the verdict.”
23.11.2018
medyavehukuk.org