Journalist sentenced for ‘insulting the president’ over 2016 statement

Journalist Hakkı Boltan has been sentenced to 1 year, 2 months, and 17 days in prison for “insulting the president” over his statement condemning the killing of a colleague in 2016.

The Diyarbakır 12th Penal Court of First Instance reached the verdict today during the tenth hearing of a retrial which Boltan did not attend.

His lawyer, Resul Temur, argued during the defense that the statements were made within the scope of freedom of expression. Temur noted that Boltan was acting as a representative of a journalists’ association at the time.

Boltan is the former co-chair of the Free Journalists Association (ÖGC) and former head of the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG), both active in the Kurdish-populated regions.

Temur noted that the remarks were intended as criticism following the killing of a journalist in Cizre, Diyarbakır, during clashes between security forces and local militia.

“The client made the statements subject to trial because he is both a journalist and knew Rohat Aktaş closely,” he said.

Background

The case originated from an indictment prepared by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2019. It listed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ahmet Davutoğlu, the PM at the time of the incident, as complainants.

Boltan made the statement in question on Feb 11, 2016, condemning the death of Rohat Aktaş, the former managing editor of Azadiya Welat, the only Kurdish-language daily newspaper in Turkey for a long time.

In Jun 2021, the local court had initially sentenced Boltan to separate prison terms for insulting both Erdoğan and Davutoğlu.

The 2nd Penal Chamber of the Diyarbakır Regional Court of Justice, the appeals court, overturned that decision in Oct 2022.

The appeals court ruled that establishing separate convictions constituted an excessive sentence. The case was subsequently sent back to the local penal court of first instance for the retrial concluded today. (HA/VK)