The trial of journalist Ali Kismir, who faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of having “insulted” the Turkish Cypriot armed forces, was on Thursday adjourned until May 29.

Kismir allegedly “insulted” the Turkish Cypriot armed force in a Facebook post in which he likened their headquarters to a brothel after it had allegedly been visited by representatives of Ersin Tatar in the run-up to the 2020 Turkish Cypriot leadership election.

At previous hearings, his lawyers have argued that the law against “insulting” the Turkish Cypriot armed forces in and of itself is not compliant with the ‘TRNC’s’ constitution.

Earlier, it had been said that the Turkish Cypriot police had begun investigating Kismir before a complaint had been filed against him, with high-profile lawyer Mine Atli telling the Cyprus Mail at the time that “if this is true, it is a massive deal”.

“For any investigation to be undertaken, there needs to be a complaint. Even when you see big scandals and the police are asked why they have not begun investigating, they say they are waiting for a complaint to be filed,” she said.

Cengiz Dogan was the first witness to be called in the case, telling the court that Kismir’s words had actually made people cry, while the second witness was the European University of Lefka’s Turkish language professor Oguz Karakartal.

Esendagli had argued in court that Karakartal’s position on the matter is “not objective”, given that Karakartal had made frequent posts on social media in support of Turkish military activities.

Meanwhile, five diplomatic missions in Cyprus offered their support to Kismir, with US ambassador in Nicosia Julie Davis Fisher describing the trial as “a critical moment for press freedom”.