Judicial reform to exclude court process for social media insults

ANKARA

In a major shift in the resolution of defamation offenses on social media, a new judicial reform envisages to only impose fines, closing off the litigation process, daily Hürriyet has reported.

Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç indicated last week that the comprehensive changes proposed in the judicial reform will be submitted to the parliament by the end of February or the beginning of March.

According to daily Hürriyet's article published on Feb. 12, if the mentioned regulation in the package is finalized, defamation offenses committed on social media will be excluded from reconciliation and will fall under the category of "prepayment."

The prosecution will determine a prison sentence for the offender for the insult, and it will be converted to monetary fine of 100 Turkish Liras per day. The specified amount for prepayment can be paid in three equal installments.

The prosecution will decide on the dismissal of the case upon completion of the prepayment. Those who fulfill the prepayment condition for the first 10 days will automatically receive a dismissal decision from the prosecution. No criminal case will be initiated against the offender, and the file will be closed.

However, this regulation exempts insults against public officials, daily Hürriyet said, adding that in cases of insulting public officials or the president, a public prosecution will be initiated as before.

With the new trial model for these offenses sparking debate among legal experts, some attorneys interviewed by the daily argued that victims will have no say in a crime committed against them.

Bekir Şabahat, a lawyer from the Ankara Bar Association, stated that excluding defamation offenses against public officials from this regulation is blatantly inconsistent with the principle of equality before the law in the constitution. He also warned about the potential perception of impunity, such as saying, "I'll pay the fine and insult freely."

Legal sources speaking to daily Hürriyet mentioned that the primary reason for incorporating this regulation into the reform is the transformation of social media insults into a "source of income" through compensation obtained from the offender for some victims.

Additionally, since defamation investigations constitute approximately 20 percent of the annual case load of chief public prosecutors related to the reform, it aims to reduce this burden. The report noted that around two hundred investigation documents related to these offenses are recorded daily in Istanbul alone.