The new Turkey
İbrahim Aydın.
BirGün daily’s publisher

21-Jan-2020

5 December 2019:

BirGün executives stand trial for “insulting public official”

BirGün daily’s editors Uğur Koç and Mustafa Kömüş and publisher İbrahim Aydın appeared before an Istanbul court on 5 December 2019 on the charge of “insulting a public official” over a news report published on 21 June 2019 in BirGün’s online edition.

This was the first hearing in the trial, where the accusation stems from the news report titled “Ekşi Sözlük’teki Berat Albayrak-Özge Ulusoy başlığı kaldırıldı” (Berat Albayrak-Özge Ulusoy heading in Ekşi Sözlük removed).

Koç, Kömüş and Aydın rejected the accusation and asked to be acquitted. The Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance adjourned the trial until 27 February 2020 for the defense statements in writing to be submitted to court.