DİYARBAKIR - The Court of Appeal found the prison sentence of 1 year, 2 months and 17 days given to journalist Hakkı Boltan for "insulting" AKP President Erdoğan and then-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu too low, and demanded that the sentence be given at the upper limit.

 

Diyarbakır 12th Criminal Court of First Instance awarded journalist Hakkı Boltan for his words about the murder of Rohat Aktaş, Editor-in-Chief of Azadiye Welat newspaper, who was killed in the basement where he was trapped during the curfews announced in 2015 in the Cizre district of Şırnak, he was sentenced to 1 year, 2 months and 17 days for insulting AKP President Erdoğan and 10 months for insulting then Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. Boltan's words, "A great atrocity took place in Cizre, humanity was massacred in front of the whole world. A dirty massacre is being carried out under the name of cleansing by the order of state forces, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu" was the reason for the sentence.

 

THE COURT DEMANDED THAT THE SENTENCE SHOULD BE INCREASED FOR BOLTAN

 

Diyarbakir Regional Court of Justice 2nd Penal Chamber reversed the decision of the local court and demanded that the sentence be imposed on a single clause and that the sentence be increased. In the decision of appeal, it found the penalty given for "insulting the President" as "wrongful" and stated that it should be given at the upper limit.

 

The court noted that the lower limit of the penalties for "insulting a public official" is 5 months, but that the penalty to be imposed cannot be less than 1 year in case "the action is committed against a public official due to his/her duty". The court decided that the sentence given for insulting the then Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu should not be less than one year and demanded that the sentence be increased.

 

The fact that Diyarbakır 12th Criminal Court of First Instance did not include the sentence given to Davutoğlu in its reasoned decision was also among the reasons for the reversal of the decision. Diyarbakır 12th Criminal Court of First Instance is expected to hold a retrial in the coming days to establish a new verdict.