Turkish TV host sentenced to more than a year in prison over criticizing state-run news agency

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Turkish television host Metin Uca was sentenced to one year, two months and 17 days in prison for criticizing Ankara's official news outlet Anadolu Agency for releasing the "results" of the June 24, 2018 election before official results came out.

Uca had tweeted that AA released data, before the counting was over, that was identical to the official election results.

Uca's tweets resulted in the director and deputy director filing a lawsuit against him for "insulting an officer on duty."

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The ruling claimed that Uca's social media posts had "surpassed the bounds of freedom of expression," and were "overtly directed at multiple individuals."

Uca said that he had seen the numbers on AA before official counting was over, and that the data publicized as "preparation for election night."

"But when I saw that they were the same as the results released on election night, I tweeted to speak up against the manipulation of the narrative and to make sure volunteers stayed with the ballots," Uca said.

The TV host later tweeted about his sentencing, saying that intimidation only further damaged his regard of the law.

"When the AA director, who created the infrastructure for history's biggest election fraud, can't be put on trial for it, somehow I get sent to prison for voicing it," Uca tweeted.

Korku eşiği çoktan aşılmıştı. Benim üstümden insanları korkutma çabası gülünç bir hal alıyor, hukuka saygı kavramının zedelenmesine yol açıyor. Tarihin en büyük oy sahtekarlığına sanal altyapı oluşturan A.A genel müdürü yargılanamazken konuyu dile getiren ben ceza alıyorum. https://t.co/NTZfYOAzXQ

— Metin Uca (@MetinUca) June 5, 2020