’3-cent’ compensation lawsuit against social media influencer Murat Övüç

V.A. (36), who operates an entertainment venue in Istanbul, made a post on Instagram criticizing a post by social media influencer Murat Övüç. Following this, V.A. alleged that Murat Övüç threatened him by saying, "I will see you somewhere eventually, let's see who will take you from my hands," and insulted him by calling him "insolent, domez, hungry dog, errand boy." V.A. filed a criminal complaint through Alperen Cihan Çetinkaya, one of the lawyers from the Izmir Bar Association.

HE DENIED THE ACCUSATION BY CLAIMING IT WAS A MONTAGE

Following the criminal complaint, a hearing on the matter was held at the Istanbul 58th Criminal Court of First Instance. In his defense in court, Murat Övüç claimed that the correspondence samples were a montage, stating, "I do not accept the accusation against me; I did not make the correspondence mentioned in the indictment, these words do not belong to me." The plaintiff, V.A., presented the original versions of the correspondence on his phone to the presiding judge, showing the threatening and insulting messages.

THEY WILL FILE A ’3-CENT’ NON-PECUNIARY DAMAGES LAWSUIT

Regarding Murat Övüç, who was sentenced to a judicial fine by the court for insult and threat, lawyer Alperen Cihan Çetinkaya stated that they would file a '3-cent' non-pecuniary damages lawsuit.

Çetinkaya said, "My client is a business owner in Istanbul and is personally acquainted with the person named Murat Övüç. He made a post thinking that Murat Övüç's posts were not in accordance with social morality. Upon this, Murat Övüç made statements on Instagram that amounted to insults and threats, such as 'insolent domez, hungry dog'.

We filed a complaint because of this. After we filed the complaint, during the court phase, Murat Övüç claimed that these writings were a montage. However, we proved that this situation was true by presenting the digital materials we had.

Here, of course, one of the most important details is that we can say this is a first in terms of the word 'domez' being the subject of a court decision and being considered as containing an insult, and that it has entered the insult literature. I also researched this word and learned that it is a word used by LGBT individuals among themselves as a severe insult.

Indeed, the court was apparently of this opinion and gave a sentence accordingly. After this sentence was given, we filed a 3-cent non-pecuniary damages lawsuit against the individual.

Because our main goal here is not financial gain. We filed a 3-cent non-pecuniary damages lawsuit to show that it is not that cheap to easily insult or threaten a person on Instagram, especially by using their name and location," he said.