Turkish court acquits 12 people involved in beating of famous designer Barbaros Şansal

Duvar English 

An Istanbul court on Jan. 7 announced its decision with regards to 13 people, who were standing trial over their involvement in the beating of world-famous fashion designer Barbaros Şansal at Istanbul's Atatürk Airport in 2017.  

The court decided to acquit 12 people and imposed an administrative fine on another. 

Şansal was attacked by a group of assailants at the Atatürk Airport on Jan. 3, 2017 upon arrival after being expelled from the Turkish-controlled Northern Cyprus over a social media post. Police detained Şansal following the attack. 

The indictment against the 13 people demanded that they get a jail term of up to five years on charges of "actual bodily harm," "threat" and "insult."

The Bakırköy 26th Criminal Court of First Instance acquitted 12 defendants of the charges. The court imposed a judicial monetary fine on another defendant, but deferred the announcement of the verdict. 

Şansal is known to be a fierce dissident of the Turkish government. He was sentenced to three months and 22 days in prison over the relevant social media post. He was found guilty of “explicitly insulting the Turkish Republic" in a court ruling in September 2021. 

In the video that he shared on the New Year’s Eve in 2017, he was denouncing those celebrating "while there is so much filth, vileness and poverty" in Turkey. The following day he was expelled from Northern Cyprus where he had moved before because he felt his life and property were not safe in Turkey.

Turkish designer Barbaros Şansal sentenced to prison over social media postHuman Rights