Journalist Yarkadaş Acquitted of "Insult of the President"

Barış Yarkadaş, executive of the GerçekGündem.com website, was acquitted by the Kadıköy (Istanbul) 7^th Criminal Court of First Instance on 9 June. Yarkadaş had been facing imprisonment for publishing a reader comment sent under the pseudonym "Türkeli27" which allegedly criticized President Abdullah Gül.

The case was filed on the grounds of a reader comment related to a statement of the Armenian President Serj Sarkisyan who had said, "I am not going to Turkey no matter if the borders are open or closed". The hearing was held on 9 June.

Court followed prosecutor's request for acquittal

Yarkadaş was tried because he published the reader comment saying "Sarkisyan challenged Turkey because of the attitude of President Abdullah Gül". The comment had been attached to a news item dated 24 April 2009.

The court declared that the comment "remained within the limits of criticism" and that it had not been written by Yarkadaş himself. Yarkadaş stood accused of "insult of the President" and faces imprisonment of five years and four months according to article 299 of the Turkish Criminal Code.

The trial was opened upon the application by the Presidential Legal Council to the Ministry of Justice and upon the Ministry getting in touch with the Bakırköy Public Prosecution.

Public Prosecutor Bayram Albayrak pleaded for the acquittal of the journalist and judge Tahsin Doğan followed his request.

Case was brought to parliament, no response yet

The Ankara deputy of the Republican People's Party (CHP), Nesrin Baytok, had brought the case against Yarkadaş to the agenda of the parliament. Baytok questioned whether the trial would "narrow the limits of freedom of the expression of thoughts". She demanded to disclose the correct figure of how many similar investigations were opened in Turkey against journalists. The Ministry of Justice has not replied to the inquiry yet. (EÖ/TK/VK)