Saying That You Are A Stooge Does Not Constitute The Offence Of Insult
4th Criminal Chamber 2019/4890 E. , 2021/27093 K.
“Case Law Text”
COURT :Criminal Court of First Instance
CRIMES : Threat, insult
CONVICTIONS : Conviction
APPELLANTS : Defendants
DECISION
The file was discussed according to the duration of the appeal, the nature of the decision and the date of the offence:
Since there were no reasons for the rejection of the request for appeal, the merits of the case were discussed.
In the examination made according to the content of the minutes, documents and justification reflecting the trial process in which the conscientious opinion was formed:
A- It has been determined as a result of the trial conducted in accordance with the law that the compulsory elements justifying the solution reached with the threatening actions attributed to the defendants and that these actions were committed by the defendants, all the evidence and the claims and defences put forward at the stages have been exhibited in a manner that will enable the appellate control and completely, and discussed without changing their essence, and the conscientious opinion is based on certain, consistent and non-conflicting data,
That the acts are correctly characterised and correspond to the type of offence provided for in the Law,
During the application of Article 62 of the Turkish Penal Code, due to the calculation of the resultant penalty over the month, although an incomplete penalty was determined by sentencing “1 year and 13 months” imprisonment instead of “2 years and 1 month” imprisonment as a result, no reversal can be made since there is no appeal against it,
Since it is understood that the reasons put forward by the defendants … and … were not deemed appropriate, in accordance with the notification, the appeal is rejected on the merits and the judgements are approved,
B- As for the appeal regarding the verdicts on the defendants for the offence of insult, no other reasons were found to be relevant.
However
1- The legal value protected by the punishment of insulting acts is the honour, honour and dignity of persons, and in order for this crime to occur, the behaviour must be intended to humiliate the person. Whether an act is insulting or not is relative in some cases and may vary according to time, place and situation. All kinds of heavy criticism or disturbing words directed at public officials or civilians should not be evaluated within the context of the crime of insult, and the words should clearly constitute an imputation of a concrete act or fact or an act of blasphemy that may offend honour, honour and dignity.
Deciding to convict the defendants instead of acquitting the defendants, without considering that the words “you’re a stooge”, which were accepted to be said by the defendants to the complainants on the day of the incident, were not offensive to the honour, honour and dignity of the interlocutors, but were in the nature of a disturbing, rude and impolite style of address, and therefore the crime of insult did not occur in terms of its elements,
2- According to the acceptance,
a-) Although it is accepted in the justification part of the verdict that the defendants did not insult the complainants due to their duties, the paragraph of the verdict leads to a contradiction by establishing a verdict in accordance with Article 125/3-a of the TCC,
b-) Determination of an incomplete sentence by sentencing the defendant to “12 months and 15 days imprisonment” instead of “1 year and 15 days” due to the calculation of the resultant sentences in months during the application of Article 62 of the TPC,
Since it is contrary to the law and the reasons for the appeal of the defendants … and … are deemed appropriate, it was unanimously decided on 22/11/2021 to NULLIFY THE LAWS, to observe the article 326/last of the Code of Criminal Procedure No. 1412 while re-establishing the judgement, to send the file to the original / conviction court in order to continue and conclude the trial starting from the stage before the reversal.
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