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A court in Istanbul handed down a prison term of 6 years 10 months 15 days to Cem Golbasi, the stand leader of the Genc Fenerbahceliler (Young Fenerbahce Fans) supporters’ group, one of the most prominent supporter groups of Fenerbahce, over charges of aggravated robbery at a workplace, unlawful deprivation of liberty, and unlawful acquisition or dissemination of personal data. The panel cleared him of the separate count of torment.
At the Bakirkoy 22nd High Criminal Court hearing, defendants Cem Golbasi, Ismail Atan, Suleyman Sahin, Sahin Beyazyildiz, and Umut Ozaydin appeared with their lawyers and asked to lift judicial control measures.
The court acquitted them of torment but convicted them—except where noted below—of acting together in aggravated robbery at a workplace, depriving a person of liberty, and unlawfully obtaining or sharing personal data.
Noting he had no prior conviction, the court suspended the pronouncement of the verdict for Sahin Beyazyildiz. This “suspension of pronouncement” means the finding is put on hold and may not result in imprisonment if conditions set by the court are met.
Proceedings against Hasan Mert Sahin and Yunus Akbalik were dropped for the offenses of threat and torment after the parties reached a settlement.
The court president entered a dissenting opinion, arguing that Golbasi, Atan, Sahin, Beyazyildiz, and Ozaydin should not have been convicted of aggravated robbery at a workplace, but should instead have been convicted for unlawfully accessing and remaining within an information system.
According to the indictment by the Bakirkoy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, complainant Burhan Ivecen ran the football-themed account “@Buyukeksi” with about 23,000 followers and had posted satirical content about Golbasi based on media reports. On the day in question, the suspects allegedly went to Ivecen’s workplace, took his phone without consent, accessed the account, and questioned him over who made the posts.
The indictment states that the suspects then removed Ivecen from the premises against his will, took him to a storage-like location, forced him to wear a wig, and recorded video footage. Prosecutors had sought prison terms on counts including invasion of privacy, unlawful deprivation of liberty by multiple persons, torment, unlawful access to an information system, aggravated robbery by multiple persons at a workplace or its annex, and unlawful transfer or acquisition of data.
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