The Expression “Let’s Order Another Tea If The Teas Are Over” Uttered Upon The Tearing Not Starting Is Not An Offence Of Defamation
In order for the crime of insult to occur, it must be aimed at attacking the honour, honour, dignity, respectability or humiliating the person. Not every rude and impolite discourse can be considered as an insult. Moreover, whether the words uttered are insulting or not may vary depending on the event, persons, place and time. Moreover, persons with administrative powers should approach criticism with more tolerance. You can examine the sample Court of Cassation Decision.
18th Criminal Chamber
Principal Number: 2015/39470
Decision Number: 2017/9714
“Case Law Text”
COURT :Serious Criminal Court
CRIME : Insult
CONVICTION : Conviction
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 appeal request, 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;
The legal value protected by the punishment of the act of insult is the honour, dignity and reputation 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 severe criticism or offensive words directed at public officials or civilians should not be evaluated within the context of the offence of insult, and the words should clearly constitute the imputation of a concrete act or fact that may offend honour, honour and dignity, or the act of swearing.
On the other hand, it is accepted in the case-law of the ECtHR that officials who have been granted certain administrative powers should show more tolerance to criticism of their words and actions. In an application concerning defamatory statements made against public officials, the ECtHR examines whether the words subject to the application pose a real danger of undermining public confidence in the performance of the official in question.
In the concrete case subject to the trial; the defendant lawyer shouted loudly “if they ran out of tea, I’ll order another tea” referring to the complainant judge after the hearing did not start at the previously announced time, and when the complainant asked who said the words in question, he said “I said it, will you do your hearing? Don’t talk here, go inside and do your hearing”, and upon the complainant’s warning, he said “you go inside and do your hearing, you talked to me like this in the previous hearing”, and the words he said were not offensive to the honour, honour and dignity of the complainant, 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, and the defendant was convicted instead of acquitted of this crime,
Since it is contrary to the law and the reasons of appeal of the defendant … defence counsel and the Public Prosecutor of that place are deemed appropriate, it was unanimously decided on 27.09.2017 to VACATE the verdict contrary to the notification and to send the file to the original/judgement court in order to continue and conclude the trial starting from the stage before the reversal.
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