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TURKEY - WEBSITE EDITOR TO BE TRIED ON CHARGE ON INSULTING PRESIDENT
Global Politics
http://fromtheold.com/turkey-website-edit or-be-tried-charge-insulting-president-20100302167 55.html
March 2 2010
Baris Yarkadas, the editor of the online newspaper Gercek Gundem
(Real Agenda), will face up to five years in prison when he appears
before a criminal court in the Istanbul district of Kadiköy tomorrow
in response to a complaint brought by the president's office. He is
charged with insulting President Abdullah Gul under article 299-2 of
the criminal code for failing to remove a comment posted by a reader.
"We call for the immediate withdrawal of this baseless charge,"
Reporters Without Borders said. "It is incomprehensible that Yarkadas
should be accused of insulting the president when he did not himself
write the comment, which was anyway neither rude nor insulting. This
prosecution is indicative of a desire by the government to intimidate
and silence its critics."
The president's office has even said it knows who posted the comments,
referring to him as "the aggressor" and revealing that he lives
abroad. The reader accused President Gul of allowing his Armenian
counterpart, Serzh Sargsyan, to defy him. "Bravo, you have trampled
on the honour of the great republic of Turkey," he wrote.
Yarkadas is facing other prosecutions. He is due to appear before
the same court on 5 March on a charge of offending Nur Birgen, the
head of the Institute for Forensic Medicine's expertise section,
by reporting allegations that human rights NGOs have made against her.
Global Politics
http://fromtheold.com/turkey-website-edit or-be-tried-charge-insulting-president-20100302167 55.html
March 2 2010
Baris Yarkadas, the editor of the online newspaper Gercek Gundem
(Real Agenda), will face up to five years in prison when he appears
before a criminal court in the Istanbul district of Kadiköy tomorrow
in response to a complaint brought by the president's office. He is
charged with insulting President Abdullah Gul under article 299-2 of
the criminal code for failing to remove a comment posted by a reader.
"We call for the immediate withdrawal of this baseless charge,"
Reporters Without Borders said. "It is incomprehensible that Yarkadas
should be accused of insulting the president when he did not himself
write the comment, which was anyway neither rude nor insulting. This
prosecution is indicative of a desire by the government to intimidate
and silence its critics."
The president's office has even said it knows who posted the comments,
referring to him as "the aggressor" and revealing that he lives
abroad. The reader accused President Gul of allowing his Armenian
counterpart, Serzh Sargsyan, to defy him. "Bravo, you have trampled
on the honour of the great republic of Turkey," he wrote.
Yarkadas is facing other prosecutions. He is due to appear before
the same court on 5 March on a charge of offending Nur Birgen, the
head of the Institute for Forensic Medicine's expertise section,
by reporting allegations that human rights NGOs have made against her.