Appeals Court ruling on Şebnem Korur Fincancı!

The 2nd Criminal Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice (appeals court) has completed its review of the appeal regarding the 2-year, 8-month, and 15-day prison sentence given to Turkish Medical Association (TTB) President Şebnem Korur Fincancı by the Istanbul 24th High Criminal Court for the crime of "propagating for an armed terrorist organization."

Deciding that there was no procedural or substantive illegality in the local court's verdict, and no deficiencies in the evidence or proceedings, the chamber noted that the evaluation regarding the proof was appropriate.

Stating that the act was correctly classified and that the 2-year, 8-month, and 15-day prison sentence given to the defendant was applied within the legal context, the chamber rejected the appeal on its merits, finding the reasons put forward by the defendant's lawyers and the public prosecutor to be unfounded.

BACKGROUND OF THE CASE

An investigation had been launched into TTB President Şebnem Korur Fincancı due to her remarks regarding the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) on a television channel linked to the PKK terrorist organization. Fincancı, who was detained at her home in Istanbul, was arrested by a criminal judgeship of peace in Ankara on October 27, 2022.

In the indictment prepared as a result of the investigation conducted by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, it was requested that Fincancı, who equated the TSK's legal activities within the scope of self-defense with the illegal activities of the terrorist organization, be sentenced to between 1 year and 6 months and 7 years and 6 months in prison for the crime of "terrorist organization propaganda."

The Ankara 4th High Criminal Court issued a decision of lack of jurisdiction due to Fincancı's place of residence being in Istanbul and the investigation being conducted there, and sent the file to Istanbul.

The Istanbul 24th High Criminal Court, which oversaw the trial, sentenced Fincancı to 2 years, 8 months, and 15 days in prison for "propagating for an armed terrorist organization" and ordered her release, taking into account the time she had spent in custody.

In the court's reasoned decision, it was noted that Fincancı had actively participated in the act of "terrorist organization propaganda" with the aim of smearing the TSK, based on images that did not reflect the truth, whose location and time of filming were unclear, and which were circulated by the organization.

Following the reasoned decision, the file was sent to the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice for appeal upon the objections of the public prosecutor and the defendant's lawyers.