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Istanbul: The Court Acquits The Agos Journalists

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  • Istanbul: The Court Acquits The Agos Journalists

    THE COURT ACQUITS THE AGOS JOURNALISTS

    Bianet
    3 July 2009

    The new prosecutor in the Agos case says that the court verdicts can
    be critiqued as well and both Agos journalists, Aris Nalcý and Sarkis
    Seropyan, are acquitted.

    Erol ONDEROÐLU [email protected] Ýstanbul - BÄ°A News Center19
    Haziran 2008, Perþembe Today the Þiþli 2nd Court of First Instance
    acquitted Sarkis Seropyan, the license holder for the Agos newspaper,
    an Armenian/Turkish weekly, and Aris Nalcý, the editor of the same
    newspaper, of the charge of "attempting to influence the judiciary."

    Kemal Aytac, one of the defense lawyers, told the journalists in
    front of Þiþli Justice Hall that "Actually, there should have not
    been a case like this. How do we know this? The verdict says so. I
    hope people will not have to go to the courts because of their ideas
    and be acquitted. In past people died because of this."

    The lawyers did not go in since they were protesting the court The
    lawyers did not take part in today's hearing since they were protesting
    Metin Aydýn and Hakký Yalcýnkaya for being biased.

    Only some observers, Haluk Aðabeyoðlu, the human rights and labor
    activists, among them, and the journalists were present at the final
    hearing, as the accused journalists did not show up, either. The Human
    Rights Watch Organization (HRW) representative Emma Sinclair-Webb
    observed the hearing, too.

    The court was in a more relaxed mood, the new prosecutor asked for
    acquittal In the verdict hearing, the court was not as tense as it was
    previously. Prosecutor Mucahit Ercan changed prosecutor Ýsa Dalgýc's
    previous opinion demanding that the accused journalists be sentenced
    under article 288 of the Penal Code.

    Prosecutor Ercan pointed out that the accused journalist critiqued
    in their editorial "Akýllý Tahta", written on November 9, 2007, the
    law article under which they were sentenced, namely, article 301, by
    the way of implication, that they were not trying to influence the
    judiciary process, that considering the factors of the accusation,
    the verdict of the court itself could be critiqued within the legal
    framework as well, that the article, in its entirety, stayed within
    the limits of the freedom of expression and critique. At the end,
    he asked for the acquittal of the accused.

    "The article was written for our Armenian citizens" Judge Yalcýnkaya,
    whose withdrawal from the trial process the defense lawyers had
    demanded, decided, "The article should be defined as an editorial
    piece written for our Armenian citizens rather than to influence the
    judiciary process, since it could not have been written to influence
    the judiciary, when viewed in its entirety, the accused should be
    acquitted separately."

    "They were tried, when the punishment was connected with the
    "psychology of the people" They were sued for their article titled
    "Akýllý Tahta" (The Smart Board), published on the November 9, 2007
    issue of Agos, in which they critiqued the decision that was reached
    regarding Hrant Dink's Article 301 case.

    The indictment had stated that the article itself was not criminal, but
    it had become criminal because of the psychology of the Turkish people.

    The lawyers had claimed that the judges Metin Aydýn and Hakký
    Yalcýnkaya could not be objective and brought a request of recusation
    against them.
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