Media and fair trial in sexual crimes: Conflict between freedom of expression and the presumption of innocence

The scope of the concept of human rights has been expanding since the first day humanity accepted its existence. With civilization, many new rights have emerged that are protected by the legal system. While the diversity of human rights has increased over time, the importance of some rights always prevails over others. While the presumption of innocence ensures that the individual is tried fairly without being treated as guilty in the eyes of the state and society, freedom of expression, as one of the cornerstones of the democratic social order, ensures the existence, development and solidarity of the individual and society. These rights, each of which has been extensively evaluated in scholarship, are currently at the center of a widespread human rights conflict. Freedom of expression, whose scope of use is constantly expanding thanks to the internet and social media, is being used as a tool to violate the presumption of innocence, particularly for those accused of sexual crimes. Due to factors such as the societal approach to sexual crimes, social media's propensity to create false content and provoke public reactions, and the difficulties in protecting the presumption of innocence for perpetrators of sexual crimes, the conflict has begun to have serious consequences, including the erosion of the presumption of innocence; it has led to mass lynchings of accused individuals and the widespread perception within society that trials are unfair. The purpose of this study is to draw academic attention to this conflict by demonstrating that the conflict between the presumption of innocence and freedom of expression has become a serious problem, that social media's conflict-generating nature requires regulation, and that approaches can be pursued to rebalance the conflict. The state, which has an obligation not to interfere with human rights and to prevent violations by others, is the sole authority responsible for resolving this conflict, which has become a current and widespread victimization. With the argument that each of the legislative, judicial and executive branches has steps to take in this regard, this study examines the conflict between the presumption of innocence and freedom of expression under current conditions, highlighting the conflict-triggering role of social media and emphasizing that intervening in this issue has become an urgent need. It highlights the role of social media in triggering this conflict and emphasizes the urgent need to intervene in this matter. The study concludes by making recommendations for legal regulations, developing jurisprudence, regulating the relationship between media and institutions, and making forward-looking improvements in the education system in order to balance the conflict of rights, the reasons for which and concrete examples are given throughout the study.