Deniz Göktaş, who was arrested within the scope of the investigation initiated by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on the grounds that there was a criminal element in the videos he published on social media platforms, demanded a prison sentence of 2 years, 7 months to 12 years, for the crimes of "insulting the President", "inciting and humiliating the public to hatred and hostility" and "praising the crime and the criminal". His trial began today.
The hearing is being held in the courtroom of the Istanbul 4th High Criminal Court due to insufficient room capacity in the Istanbul 14th Criminal Court of First Instance.
THE PROSECUTOR REQUESTED BOTH PUNISHMENT AND RELEASE
Explaining his opinion at the hearing, the prosecutor requested that Göktaş be punished and released on charges of "publicly insulting the President", "publicly inciting the public to hatred and hostility through the press and publications" and "praising the crime and the criminal".
DETAILS FROM THE INDICTMENT
In the indictment, it was noted that the suspect's statements about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a video on YouTube "exceeded the limits of criticism and were at a level that would offend the honor, dignity and prestige of the President in the eyes of society."
In the indictment, it was claimed that Göktaş made statements that "openly incited hatred and hostility towards a segment of the population with different characteristics in terms of religion, against another segment of the population", regarding the Holy Quran, the holy book of Islam, and made statements that publicly incited hatred and hostility against another segment of the population with different characteristics in terms of religion.
In the indictment, which stated that the words spoken by the suspect in his demonstration were detrimental to social peace, discriminatory and polarizing, that he targeted women who entered the sea with closed clothes due to their religious beliefs and made hate speech, and that more than 500 CIMER applications were made for this reason, it was claimed that the words spoken by Göktaş were capable of arousing indignation in large segments of the society and that it was understood that they revealed a clear and present danger in terms of public security.
WHAT HAPPENED?
The release decision was given for Göktaş, who was arrested for "Insulting the President" and "Instigation of Justified Hatred and Hostility and Contempt", after an objection was made to his detention.
Following the release decision, Göktaş was arrested this time for "Praising the Crime and the Criminal through the Press".
“I ABSOLUTELY HAVE NO PURPOSE TO HURT BELIEVING PEOPLE”
Stating that he did not accept the accusation attributed to him in his police statement before his arrest, Göktaş claimed that he had staged his show in many cities of Türkiye for a long time and that he had no such intention.
“This show belongs to a show I have done in various cities of Türkiye for about 3 years. “Over 100,000 viewers watched this screening, and none of them complained that they were offended by this episode.” Using the following expressions, Göktaş stated that he talked a lot during his show and continued as follows:
“I talk about all kinds of political views or popular figures, not just religious people. I'm not saying anything bad here either. I say 'My favorite book'. I say the sentence 'There is a problem in translation' as a reference to the interpretation discussions I have been hearing for years. I have absolutely no intention of offending a believer. "I would be upset if I heard such a comment from an audience member in daily life."
“I HAVE NO INTENTION TO HUMILIATE THE PRESIDENT”
Touching on the accusation of "insulting the President" in his statement, Göktaş argued that his words should be considered within the scope of humor and said, "I have no intention of insulting the President in any way. The word 'dictator' is a political term and the subject of frequent public debate. Democrat is just a word like autocrat. This is a humorous approach, as I do throughout the show to such popular figures, ideologies and sociological events about Türkiye, I have no other purpose. "I do not accept the accusations made against me," he said.
