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THREAT OF PROSECUTION FOR DISCUSSION OF GENOCIDE VIOLATES FREE SPEECH RIGHTS
By Sonya Angelica Diehn
Courthouse News Service
Oct 26 2011
(CN) - Europe's human rights court ruled that a Turkish law allowing
prosecution of people who discuss the Armenian genocide violates the
right to expression.
Altug Taner Akcam, a professor of history in Ankara, brought the
complaint to the European Court of Human Rights in 2007 when extremist
groups attempted to use the law against him.
The law forbids use of the word "genocide" to describe the systematic
destruction of the Armenian population by the Ottoman Empire before
World War I. At least 1 million Armenians, along with members of
other ethnic groups, were killed.
If convicted under the law, a person could face up to three years in
prison for degradation of "Turkishness."
Although Akcam was not prosecuted, he claimed that he lived under
its threat, and that this caused him to cease writing on the issue.
The statute had been used extensively to persecute writers who reported
on the topic, including Hrant Dink, a prominent journalist who was
convicted under the law and subsequently shot to death by extremists.
The Turkish government said that amendments to the wording of the
law, and a requirement for authorization from the justice minister
to initiate prosecution, provided enough free speech safeguards.
But the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights disagreed,
saying that although protection of state values is acceptable to an
extent, the revised law could still be abused to silence "unfavorable"
opinions.
Under Turkish criminal code, there is still the risk that the state
will prosecute those who speak publicly on the issue, the court said,
pointing to evidence that journalists continue to be persecuted for
discussing the Armenian genocide in Turkey.
"As is clear from the number of investigations and prosecutions
brought under this provision, any opinion or idea that is regarded
as offensive, shocking or disturbing can easily be the subject of a
criminal investigation by public prosecutors," the court concluded
in establishing a violation of free speech.
Turkey is bound to change the law in accordance with the ruling.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/10/26/40959.htm
By Sonya Angelica Diehn
Courthouse News Service
Oct 26 2011
(CN) - Europe's human rights court ruled that a Turkish law allowing
prosecution of people who discuss the Armenian genocide violates the
right to expression.
Altug Taner Akcam, a professor of history in Ankara, brought the
complaint to the European Court of Human Rights in 2007 when extremist
groups attempted to use the law against him.
The law forbids use of the word "genocide" to describe the systematic
destruction of the Armenian population by the Ottoman Empire before
World War I. At least 1 million Armenians, along with members of
other ethnic groups, were killed.
If convicted under the law, a person could face up to three years in
prison for degradation of "Turkishness."
Although Akcam was not prosecuted, he claimed that he lived under
its threat, and that this caused him to cease writing on the issue.
The statute had been used extensively to persecute writers who reported
on the topic, including Hrant Dink, a prominent journalist who was
convicted under the law and subsequently shot to death by extremists.
The Turkish government said that amendments to the wording of the
law, and a requirement for authorization from the justice minister
to initiate prosecution, provided enough free speech safeguards.
But the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights disagreed,
saying that although protection of state values is acceptable to an
extent, the revised law could still be abused to silence "unfavorable"
opinions.
Under Turkish criminal code, there is still the risk that the state
will prosecute those who speak publicly on the issue, the court said,
pointing to evidence that journalists continue to be persecuted for
discussing the Armenian genocide in Turkey.
"As is clear from the number of investigations and prosecutions
brought under this provision, any opinion or idea that is regarded
as offensive, shocking or disturbing can easily be the subject of a
criminal investigation by public prosecutors," the court concluded
in establishing a violation of free speech.
Turkey is bound to change the law in accordance with the ruling.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/10/26/40959.htm