Constitutional Court: Access Ban on Yarkadaş’s Tweet Violates Freedom of Press, Expression

Pronouncing its verdict regarding an access ban on a tweet by journalist and former CHP MP Yarkadaş, who shared a news article from Gerçek Gündem website, the Constitutional Court has ruled that his freedom of press and expression has been violated.

Ayça Söylemez

Constitutional Court: Access Ban on Yarkadaş’s Tweet Violates Freedom of Press, Expression

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The appeal of Barış Yarkadaş, former MP of the Republican People's Party (CHP), has been concluded by the Constitutional Court.

Announcing its verdict on an access ban imposed on a tweet by journalist Yarkadaş, who shared a news article published on Gerçek Gündem news website on its Twitter account, the Constitutional Court has ruled that the ban has violated the freedom of expression and press.

The court has concluded that the verdict of access ban has violated freedom of expression guaranteed by the Article 26 of the Constitution and freedom of press guaranteed by the Article 28 of the Constitution.

The court has also ruled that the verdict of ban shall be sent to the İstanbul 6th Penal Court of Peace for a retrial so that the consequences of the violation in question could be eliminated.

What happened?

A news article originally published on the Radikal newspaper of the time on July 27, 2014 was published on Gerçek Gündem news website by Barış Yarkadaş under the title "The Parallel Judge: I Have My Signature Under the Wire-Tapes" and on webiste's Twitter account with the comment, "An interesting comment from the judge of July 22 investigation."

Upon the request of the judge in question, the İstanbul 6th Penal Court of Peace imposed an access ban on the social media post on June 15, 2015.

Though Yarkadaş objected to the verdict of access ban, the İstanbul 1st Penal Court of Peace rejected the objection. In response, Barış Yarkadaş appealed to the Constitutional Court.

Freedom of expression and press violated

The court's verdict dated April 17 was published on the Official Gazette today (May 15). In the justified ruling, it has been stated that "the justifications put forward to rule for an access ban cannot be deemed relevant or sufficient."

Accordingly, the court has ruled that the freedom of expression and press of journalist and former CHP MP Barış Yarkadaş has been violated. (AS/SD)

Ayça Söylemez

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Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Felsefe Bölümü mezunu. Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi Sosyoloji bölümünde yüksek lisans yaptı. Marmara Üniversitesi İletişim Bilimleri’nde doktora yapıyor. Vatan, Akşam, HaberTürk ve Hürriyet gazetelerinin yazıişleri ve dış haberler bölümünde çalıştı. Güncel Hukuk dergisinde yazıları yayınlandı. BirGün’de Anonim adlı köşeyi yazıyor. 2011’den bu yana bianet’te İnsan Hakları Editörü.