Istanbul 15th Assize Court opened the “dictator” case on Tuesday where 4 defendants have been charged with calling PM Erdoğan a “dictator”. Koray Çağlıyan, one of the defendants, is a university student. Others were also identified a student, a teacher and a driver.
They have been charged with violating Turkish Penal Code Article 125/2 for “insulting a prime minister”. The defendants are facing prison sentences from 2 to 4 years.
“They insulted a senior statesman”
The incident took place on July 25, 2013 as the convoy of PM Erdoğan rode in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district.
The police guards of PM detained 4 people, saying that they shouted “dictator” at PM Erdoğan. The four detainees faced a public prosecution.
Koray Çağlıyan was accused of shouting “dictator” at PM, while the other defendants were charged with calling police guards “fascist and dogs of the state”.
Testifying at the hearing, the guard police said the suspects insulted a “senior statesman”. “Therefore we detained them,” they continued.
“A hypothetical detention”
Mehmet Özpişkin, a police guard, told the court that he hadn’t “exactly heard what the suspects shouted”.
“It was too crowded. We heard those words from all around. We acted hypothetically. We thought that those words were pronounced by the suspects.”
“PM must attend the hearing”
On Tuesday’s hearing, the court admitted PM’s advocate Ali Özkaya’s motion to join the case as his client “was affected from the crime”.
Koray Çağlıyan’s advocate Efkan Bolaç, on the other hand, requested PM to come to the hearing as his statement “must be heard as a victim”.
Judge Mustafa Erdoğan, however, declined Bolaç’s request.
“He must tolerate criticism”
In his statement, Çağlıyan denied charges and claimed that he was detained by people who didn’t even wear a uniform or present their IDs.
Advocate Bolaç also presented an ECHR verdict where Hervé Eon, a protestor who opened up a banner saying “Get lost, idiot” to President of France.:
“The European Court of Human Rights ruled that it was a political criticism even though the local court found him guilty. In our case, even though the defendants told him a dictator, this is criticism meaning that he was governing badly. This can’t be a subject of prosecution.”
Judge Mustafa Erdoğan ruled an expert analysis of video footage on the day of the incident, setting the next hearing to June 17 at 10 am local time. (AS/BM)
