Swift investigation into İmamoğlu after he named the court expert. Prof. Dülger’s critical remarks on the judiciary

28 January 2025CumhuriyetVideo · 28:48

The video is in Turkish.

About the video

This is a recording of an interview broadcast on Cumhuriyet TV in which Prof. Dr. Murat Volkan Dülger was the only guest. On the occasion of the investigation opened following a press statement by the Mayor of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality on the appointment of court experts, the interview first dealt with how lists of court experts are drawn up and how courts select an expert. The scope of freedom of expression and the hate speech exception were then assessed in the light of the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Constitutional Court; the offence of attempting to influence a fair trial, which was mentioned as the possible subject of the investigation, was examined in terms of its definitional elements, the mental element and unlawfulness, and the duty of politicians and public figures to tolerate criticism was addressed. In the final part, the practice of pre-trial detention and the independence of the judiciary were discussed, and the interview ended with a reference to Kant’s categorical imperative.