Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

ANKARA: RSF Welcomes Dropping Of Charges Against Journalists

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • ANKARA: RSF Welcomes Dropping Of Charges Against Journalists

    RSF WELCOMES DROPPING OF CHARGES AGAINST JOURNALISTS

    TDN
    Thursday, April 13, 2006

    ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

    A Paris-based media watchdog has hailed a recently issued ruling
    by an Istanbul court that dropped charges against four prominent
    journalists accused of insulting Turkey's courts.

    With Tuesday's decision, the court, however, decided to press ahead
    with the trial of a fifth journalist.

    While welcoming the decision on İsmet Berkan, Erol Katırcıoglu and
    Haluk Å~^ahin of daily Radikal and Hasan Cemal of Milliyet, Reporters
    Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) deplored the court's
    decision to proceed with the trial of Radikal columnist Murat Belge,
    who faces a sentence of between six months and 10 years in prison on
    the same charge.

    "We are relieved to learn that the charges have been dismissed against
    four journalists who faced the possibility of imprisonment for what
    they had written," the press freedom organization said.

    "We issued a statement on Feb. 8 calling for the withdrawal of the
    charges, and we reiterate this appeal now on behalf of the Radikal
    columnist, who could still get a long jail term."

    "We hope the authorities will in the future resist these growing
    prosecutions against journalists and freedom of expression activists."

    The five journalists were indicted in December for criticizing a court
    decision that briefly blocked a landmark conference in Istanbul on
    the Armenian issue. The prosecution charged them under articles that
    penalize insults of the judiciary and attempts to influence justice,
    carrying up to 10 years in prison.

    The discussion of what happened to Armenians between 1915 and 1923
    is an extremely sensitive topic in Turkey, which categorically denies
    Armenian allegations that Armenians were subject to a genocide campaign
    at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

    The trial is seen as a test of Turkey's readiness for membership in the
    European Union. Turkey, which embarked on membership talks in October,
    is under heavy pressure from the EU and human rights organizations
    to address infringements on freedom of expression.

    Turkey last year advanced 15 places in the 2005 World Press Freedom
    Index of the RSF but is still ranked 98th in the 167-country list,
    after Zambia, Togo, Jordan and Madagascar.

    --Boundary_(ID_PUSZdPD+EgDOCgEtDchfqg )--
Working...
X