Our News Director Cem Simsek was sentenced to 11 months and 20 days in prison

Metin TASKIRAN
İstanbul

The trial in which Evrensel newspaper's News Director Cem Simsek is on trial on charges of insulting the President for the news titled "German cartoonists drew Erdogan badly" was held today. Şimşek was sentenced to 11 months and 20 days in prison.

Cem Simsek's lawyer Devrim Avci and the complainant's lawyer were present in the case before the Bakirkoy 27th Criminal Court of First Instance.

Our newspaper's lawyer Devrim Avci demanded that Simsek shared the caricature drawn by German cartoonists within the scope of freedom of the press and demanded his client's acquittal because the legal elements of the crime did not exist.

Claiming that Cem Simsek had committed the crime of insulting President Erdogan due to the news titled "German cartoonists drew Erdogan badly" published during his time as the news director of our newspaper, the judge sentenced him to 11 months and 20 days in prison, the sentence was suspended.

AVCI: "AVOIDING THE PRESS LAW"

Speaking after the verdict, Lawyer Devrim Avci reminded that the case was opened due to a news published in 2015 and criticized the sentencing after 6 years.

Defining that the investigation not being carried on the news in  the newspaper but on the papers website is for avoidance of the press law,  Avci said, “despite the fact that the daily newspaper is examined by the prosecutor's office every day, unfortunately there is a practice as if to say we saw the news on the website and filed a criminal complaint.

Saying that the cartoons were also published in other media, Avcı said, “Although there are decisions of the Court of Cassation and the European Court of Human Rights, which state that politicians should accept harsh criticism as well as applause, the judges do not implement these decisions. We will resort to all means of appeal against the decision".

SIMSEK: "WE WILL CONTINUE TO WRITE THE TRUTH"

Evaluating the decision after the hearing, our News Director Cem Simsek stated that this sentence imposed on the works of German cartoonists published in our newspaper is a censorship decision aimed at preventing freedom of thought and expression.

The fact that cartoons criticizing the AKP's ISIS policy are justifications for punishment shows what is being tried to be blackened today, This sentence of imprisonment is not independent of the advertisement embargo imposed on our newspaper, the penalties for cutting advertisements as if there is no embargo, and the decisions of unlawful rebuttal and blocking of access. We will continue to write the truth behind the appearances, just as we continued journalism against these pressures aimed at silencing the truth.