Journalist and editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Cypriot newspaper Avrupa, Sener Levent, has been sentenced in absentia to one year in prison in Turkey over an article titled ‘The Kurds and Us.’
According to Ekathimerini, the article was deemed offensive to the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This is the second time a lawsuit has been filed against the journalist.
In 2017, Levent was sentenced in absentia to one year in prison in Turkey for a cartoon published in the publication, Avrupa, based in Northern Cyprus.
In the recent file suit against the journalist, the courts instructed him to pay a fine for postage and notification fees of the prosecution. He has refused to pay and rejected the charges.
“Because they did not get the outcome they wanted from our courts, they began prosecuting us in absentia in Ankara,” Levent explains, as to the sentencing in absentia to prison in Turkey for one year.
“They have dismantled a fair and independent judiciary in Turkey,” Levent said.
“They have nullified it. The courts are at the disposal of Tayyip Erdogan.”
Levent stated that there are thousands of similar cases against journalists in Turkey.
Source: Ekathimerini
