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  • ANKARA: Turkish author Sener fears prison term awaits after hearing

    TURKISH AUTHOR SENER FEARS PRISON TERM AWAITS AFTER HEARLNG

    Hurriyet
    April 28 2010
    Turkey

    Nedim Å~^ener, a reporter for the daily Milliyet, said Wednesday after
    his latest hearing that he is likely to be the first person sentenced
    in a case related to the assassination of Hrant Dink.

    Å~^ener said that the prosecutor dropping two charges against him for
    obtaining and revealing classified documents supported his claim that
    he reported only the facts of the Dink murder in his book. He still
    faces one charge and up to three years in prison.

    Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian origin and former editor in chief
    of the daily Agos, was murdered on Jan. 19, 2007. Parliamentary
    investigations into the assassination found evidence that the
    intelligence departments of the police and the gendarmerie had
    information about the planning of the murder but failed to prevent it.

    Å~^ener, author of the book "Hrant Dink Cinayeti ve Ä°stihbarat
    Yalanları" (The Hrant Dink Murder and Intelligence Lies) is facing
    trial for "making targets of civil servants fighting terrorism,"
    "obtaining secret documents," and "exposing secret documents."

    During the last hearing of the trial, Public Prosecutor Celal Kara
    demanded a prison sentence of one to three years for Å~^ener for "making
    targets of civil servants fighting terrorism." He dropped the other
    charges, however, because the secret documents in the book were no
    longer classified since they could be reached by multiple parties in
    the Dink assassination case. Lawyers of the police argued that the
    documents should still be considered classified regardless of their
    inclusion in the case dossier.

    Å~^ener, who recently won the Abdi Ä°pekci Journalism Award of the Year
    for his reporting on the Dink assassination, spoke to the Hurriyet
    Daily News & Economic Review in light of recent developments in the
    case. Å~^ener said the prosecutor had merged the complaints of the four
    police officers and asked for a penalty of one to three years,
    otherwise the sentence could be up to 12 years.

    The total of the original sentence demanded with the three charges was
    up to 20 years. "This is positive but [still] not normal," said Å~^ener,
    adding that the names of the police officers were mentioned in the
    press before his book was released. Å~^ener said although the prosecutor
    dropped some of the charges the court could still decide to act on
    them. The final hearing will be July 4. Å~^ener is also on trial for two
    other cases related to his book, potentially facing 4.5 and eight
    years in prison.
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