German state-owned international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) will take the conviction of its İstanbul office coordinator, journalist Bülent Mumay, to Turkey’s Constitutional Court after a lower appeals court refused to overturn his conviction, DW announced.
In May 2023 Mumay was given a 20-month suspended sentence for publishing information about a construction company in defiance of a court order.
An İstanbul criminal court issued the sentence for “spreading personal data” in a case resulting from a complaint filed by the owner of the Met-Gün Insaat construction company.
The case pertains to information Mumay shared on social media in 2020 related to alleged money laundering schemes involving construction moguls and officials from the previous İstanbul local government, which was led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The material allegedly showed that some of the contractors given tasks were government-affiliated.
The data concerned the expansion of İstanbul’s metro system, which is also underpinned by international investment and loans.
The legal case began following the complaint filed by the owner of Met-Gün Insaat, who alleged that it constituted the illegal dissemination of “personal data.” Mumay, meanwhile, contends he was doing his job as a journalist.
Turkish authorities also took steps to block public access to the information online.
The journalist appealed his conviction at the İstanbul 26th Regional Court, which acts as an appeals court. The judges unanimously rejected Mumay’s appeal last week.
Following the court’s decision, DW has decided to take Mumay’s case to the country’s highest court, the Constitutional Court.
“To be honest, I did not expect the appeal to be decided in my favor. It would be a surprise if the judiciary, politicized by the palace regime, would rule in favor of a journalist, especially at a time when freedom of the press has disappeared,” Mumay told DW.
“The lawsuits and sentences against me and other journalists have two goals. Both to neutralize us and to intimidate and silence other journalists,” he added, referring to Turkey’s poor record on freedom of the press.
DW Director General Peter Limbourg said Deutsche Welle would stand behind him and provide full legal support.
“Bülent Mumay is a fearless, experienced, and critical journalist whom the Turkish authorities appear intent on silencing,” Limbourg said. “The charges against him are clearly baseless and serve only as a pretext to intimidate him and other journalists in Turkey.”
Support from press organizations
DW and Mumay’s other employer in Germany, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper, protested the original verdict in 2023, with support from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the German branch of the writers’ NGO known as PEN (Poets, Essayists, Novelists).
The International Press Institute (IPI) also issued a critical statement following Mumay’s latest failed appeal on August 20.
“This verdict represents a severe assault on press freedom and freedom of expression in Turkey, further eroding the foundations of democratic discourse in the country,” IPI said. “We urgently call on Turkish authorities to end their harassment of critical journalists. Mumay’s case is emblematic of the systematic repression of independent journalism in Turkey.”
Mumay was among the journalists who were detained following a coup attempt in 2016 as part of a widespread crackdown that targeted journalists. He was released from police custody after a brief detention.
Turkey, which became the world’s biggest prison for journalists in 2018, during a state of emergency imposed after the coup attempt, was ranked 158th out of 180 countries in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index published by RSF.