The İstanbul 2nd Penal Court of First Instance on Thursday fined Cumhuriyet daily correspondent Canan Coşkun TL 12,600 ($3,250) for a report she wrote on judges and prosecutors buying houses at special discounted rates.
A prosecutor in Coşkun’s case demanded 23 years, four months in prison on charges of “defaming civil servants” in a report published on Feb. 19 of last year.
While İstanbul Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Orhan Kapıcı and prosecutor Orhan Yiğit were the complainants, İstanbul 3rd Penal Court of Peace judge İslam Çiçek, İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Hadi Salihoğlu, İstanbul Deputy Chief Public Prosecutors Fuzuli Aydoğdu, İrfan Fidan and İsmail Uçar, İstanbul Public Prosecutor Mehmet Demir, Küçükçekmece Chief Public Prosecutor Ali Doğan and İstanbul Anadolu Chief Public Prosecutor Fehmi Tosun were listed as victims in the indictment against Coşkun.
Criticizing the decision on his Twitter account, Reporters Without Borders Turkey representative Erol Önderoğlu said “We are not surprised since there is no longer a state of law [in Tukey].”