Journalist Furkan Karabay arrested

10Haber reporter Karabay, who was detained following his news reports and social media posts regarding the investigation process into CHP Esenyurt Mayor Prof. Dr. Ahmet Özer—who was arrested and replaced by a government-appointed trustee—has been arrested.

Facing charges of "targeting individuals involved in counter-terrorism efforts," "insulting a public official," and "publicly spreading misleading information," Karabay stated in his police testimony, "The charges are baseless."

Stating that he wrote his reports with an impartial perspective, Karabay said the following:

"The reports mentioned the investigations and proceedings in which the chief public prosecutor and his deputy were involved. Therefore, how could I have targeted them by describing the duties they performed in the past? The 'insult' charge is one that is added when no other crime can be found. Here, too, it was as if they said, 'Let's just add an insult charge to make the file look substantial.' There is not even a single letter in the news texts I wrote that could constitute an insult. Therefore, the charges are baseless. I am only performing my journalistic duty. I request that a decision of non-prosecution be issued regarding me."

The prosecutor's office referred Karabay, whose statement they did not take, to the duty magistrate judge with a request for his arrest on the grounds that he had committed the crimes of "targeting individuals involved in counter-terrorism efforts," "insulting a public official," and "publicly spreading misleading information."

The court decided to arrest Furkan Karabay.

News Source: 12punto