Istanbul Assize Court, Coskun Ak Prosecution

Coskun Ak, a former moderator of various forums operated by Superonline, one of the largest ISPs in Turkey was sentenced to 40 months in prison due to a particular message about human rights abuses in Turkey sent to a Superonline forum by an anonymous poster. The message that triggered a prosecution under article 159 of the Turkish Criminal Code was sent anonymously in May 1999. The court decided to sentence Ak for insulting and weakening the Republic of Turkey, the Military Forces, the Security Forces, and the Ministry of Justice, to one year in prison for each insult separately, totaling four years. Later, his sentence was reduced to 10 months for each insult, totaling 40 months. And on 12 March 2002 Istanbul Criminal Court No. 4 passed a second verdict against Coskun Ak. The sentence of 40 months' imprisonment was commuted to a fine of TL 6 million (app. $4). On 24 April, 2003, this second sentence was quashed by the Court of Appeal.