11.06.2025 08:11
The first hearing of the case in which Ümit Özdağ, the leader of the Victory Party, is detained on charges of "publicly inciting hatred and hostility" will be held today at the 18th Criminal Court of First Instance in Istanbul.
The leader of the Victory Party, Ümit Özdağ, was detained in Ankara one day after his statement directed at President Erdoğan during the party's Provincial Presidents Consultation Meeting in Antalya on January 19, where he said, "No Crusade that has taken place in the last thousand years has caused as much harm to the Turkish nation and the Turkish state as Erdoğan and the AK Party have." Özdağ, who was brought to the Istanbul Police Department and then taken to the Istanbul Courthouse, was arrested on charges of "publicly inciting hatred and hostility."
Özdağ's case was separated on February 17. A lawsuit was filed against Özdağ with a request for a prison sentence of up to 4 years and 8 months on the charge of "insulting the president," and the first hearing of this case was held on April 29 at the Istanbul 35th Criminal Court of First Instance located in Çağlayan. The first hearing of the case in which he is detained for "publicly inciting hatred and hostility and humiliation" will be held today at 10:30 AM at the Istanbul 18th Criminal Court of First Instance. The hearing will take place in one of the courtrooms located in the Marmara Closed Penitentiary Institution campus in Silivri.
FROM THE INDICTMENT
In the indictment, which requests a prison sentence of 7 years, 10 months, and 15 days for Özdağ, it is stated that "he should be punished according to the relevant articles and paragraphs of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) 216/1, 218/1, and 43 for the crime of Publicly Inciting Hatred and Hostility through Press and Broadcasting, and in the event of a conviction for the crime he committed intentionally, he should be deprived of the rights specified in Article 53 of the TCK, and in the event of the suspect's conviction, the periods spent in detention and arrest should be deducted according to Article 63 of the TCK, and it is requested that Article 325 of the Code of Criminal Procedure No. 5271 be applied to the suspect as well."
The indictment includes 28 posts made by Özdağ between 2020 and 2024, as well as conversations with Ramin Saeidi, the user of the social media account named "Ambargotv," who was detained under the charge of "publicly inciting hatred and hostility or humiliation" as part of another investigation conducted by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. Saeidi's defense in 2023 regarding this investigation is also included in the indictment. In Saeidi's defense, the following was recorded:
"I am originally from Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, Iran. I earn my living from being an artist and from the media. The Twitter accounts under the pseudonym '(@ambargo tv' do not belong to me. This account currently belongs to Ümit Özdağ, the Chairman of the Victory Party. I was involved in the editing and production of the videos. There were many people I knew and did not know who were also involved in this work. I was just one of them. In other words, there were other people using the account besides me."