Verdict in Hüseyin Baş's 'insulting the President' case

The first hearing of the case in which Independent Turkey Party Chairman Hüseyin Baş is being tried on charges of insulting the President was held at the Istanbul 11th Criminal Court of First Instance. Although a larger courtroom was requested due to the inadequacy of the hearing room, this request was not accepted, and some participants followed the hearing from outside.

In his defense, stating that some parts of his speech were taken out of context, Baş said, “A short clip shared on social media led to misunderstandings. An impression was created that I insulted the President. My lawyers and I wanted to examine the file, but we could not access it on the first day; we wanted to learn the content and give our statement the next day.”

COURT DECISION AND ADJOURNMENT OF THE HEARING

The court decided to lift the judicial control measures applied to Hüseyin Baş, such as the weekly signature requirement and the travel ban. The completion of the file and the submission of the defense were cited as the grounds for the decision. The hearing was adjourned to January 15, 2026.

BACKGROUND OF THE CASE

An investigation had been launched by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against Hüseyin Baş due to a speech he made at an event of his party. After his statement at the prosecutor's office, Baş had been referred to the court with judicial control conditions. In the indictment, a prison sentence of 1 year and 5 months to 8 years and 2 months is requested for Baş for the crime of 'publicly insulting the President in a chain manner'.