New law introduces new crime: “Spreading misleading information publicly”
The AKP-MHP’s proposal for a law sent to the Parliament with the claim to ’combat disinformation’ was adopted by the Parliamentary Justice Commission. If the proposal is adopted unchanged at the General Assembly of the Assembly, many lives will be radically changed in the field of “the right to receive news, freedom of expression and communication”.
New crime: Spreading misleading information publicly
A new crime will be defined under the name of “publicly disseminating misleading information to the public”. As expressed in the proposal, “a person emitting publicly false information, regarding the country’s external and internal security and general health with the motivation to create fear or panic, in a manner/way suitable to disrupt public peace face the likelihood of being punished with a prison sentence of one to three years”.
If the perpetrator commits the crime by hiding his/her true identity or ‘within the framework of the activity of an organization’, the penalty in question will be increased by half.
It will be possible to appeal decisions of the criminal departments of the regional court of justice issued for the crime of publicly disseminating information that misleads the public.
Is the scope of ‘publicly disseminating misleading information to the public’ clear?
A professor has made following statement regarding above question: Hundreds of people will be prosecuted if the proposal becomes law in this form. In fact, “Those who react to decisions made courts saying “this is too much” etc. will also be judged.” According to lawyers, this article will be used for political purposes because it is open to interpretation, opponents, journalists will be punished.
