The lawsuit on Nû Jîn documentary was re-heard after the Court of Appeal reversed the previous judgment. Veysi Altay, the director of Nû Jîn documentary, sentenced to prison for 2 years and 6 months, Dicle Anter, the Manager of Batman Municipality Yılmaz Güney Theater sentenced to prison for 10 months and 5 days due to making “terrorist organization propaganda” while screening of the documentary in the venue.
In the lawsuit, in which the poster of the documentary was deemed as an element of a crime, Altay was sentenced to prison for 1 year and 15 days and his sentence was postponed. Dicle Anter’s prison sentence of 10 months and 5 days was converted to a fine of TRY 6 thousand. Anter and Altay’s ban on leaving the country was lifted.
Attorney Mehmet Bahatır was present at the hearing at Batman 2nd High Criminal Court.
In his plea, Veysi Altay noted that a movie poster cannot be an element of crime and added, “As a director, we shot a documentary of the truth. We shot what was going on there. We claim that a poster cannot be a propaganda element. We shot this documentary in many locations and it was not deemed a crime at any other location but here. The police officer, who took the first statement that day noted that he could not find an element of a crime. However, they sent another police officer, tried to fabricate a crime and this lawsuit was filed as a result.”
Musa Anter, a municipality officer, stated that that day, he was just following orders and that the documentary, which in no way constitutes a crime, is tried to be depicted as an element of crime and that moreover, the documentary, which was screened at many other locations, was tried to be illegalized in Batman.
