İdris Yılmaz and Erhan Akbaş, editors of the Van-based Gazete Yaşam, were acquitted on 5 June in a trial where they were charged with “libel and insult” for a report on alleged sexual abuses in three public schools in Erciş district.
Yılmaz, who has been in pre-trial detention as part of a separate trial since January, addressed the court hearing via judicial video-conferencing system SEGBİS from Elazığ No. 1 High Security Prison. Erciş District National Education Director Erol Şimşek, who filed the complaint against the two journalists, did not attend.
The Erciş 1st Criminal Court of First Instance ruled for the acquittal of the two journalists at the end of the hearing.
