Prosecutor’s Office Demands Prison Sentence for Musician Ferhat Tunç

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Musician and writer Ferhat Tunç, against whom three lawsuits have been filed due to his social media posts, stood trial today (March 27). In the hearing held at İstanbul 36th Heavy Penal Court, the Prosecutor Hasan Adalı presented his dictum as to the accusations.

Adalı demanded penalty for Tunç as per the Article 7/2 of Anti-Terror Law as well as a penalty increase on the ground of a "successive offence."

Tunç: My social media posts are in contradiction with government policy

In his statement about the dictum as to the accusations, Ferhat Tunç emphasized that it is "ill-intended" that his posts from two years ago have been included in the indictment and said,

"I am aware that my [social media] posts are in contrast with the Kurdish policy of the current government. I am of the opinion that my posts are within the freedom of thought and expression."

The attorney of Tunç demanded time in the face of the dictum as to the accusations. The lawsuit will continue on May 3, 2018 at 11 a.m.

What happened?

A lawsuit has been filed against Ferhat Tunç due to his tweets where he said, "The world has its eyes on the Raqqa operation launched by the YPG and YPJ fighters, a thousand greetings to you as the good name of humanity", "We are bidding farewell to Aziz Güler, who has fallen martyr when fighting against the ISIS barbarity in Rojava" and "Worries about [PKK's imprisoned leader Abdullah] Öcalan, whom millions of people call 'my leader', need to be removed, so that the isolation will come to an end..."

There are 2 other lawsuits against him

There are currently two other lawsuits that have been filed against Ferhat Tunç. The first hearing of the lawsuit filed on charge of "inciting the public to enmity and hostility" will be held on April 18 at Büyükçekmece 4th Penal Court of First Instance. As for the lawsuit filed on charge of "insulting the President", it will be held on July 11 at Büyükçekmece 14th Penal Court of First Instance.

Freemuse has launched a campaign

The Denmark-based international organization World Forum on Music and Censorship (Freemuse) has launched an international campaign for the dismissal of lawsuits brought against Tunç. The related petition campaign of the organization is still continuing. (EA/SD)