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BREAKING NEWS: Zarakolu Released from Prison Pending Trial
Weekly Staff
April 10, 2012 in
ISTANBUL, Turkey-Publisher Ragip Zarakolu was released from prison
today pending trial along with 14 other suspects. He was taken into
custody on Oct. 28, 2011, during a large-scale manhunt in Istanbul
against Kurdish and human rights activists.
Zarakolu arrest 300x200 BREAKING NEWS: Zarakolu Released from Prison
Pending Trial
Zarakolu during his arrest.
An indictment on an alleged umbrella political organization (KCK)
that includes the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), was accepted by
an Istanbul court last week. The prosecutor is seeking up to 15
years for Zarakolu on charges of aiding a terrorist group, reported
Today's Zaman.
Zarakolu heads the Belge publishing house, which has published numerous
books on the oppression of the national minorities in Turkey and the
Armenian Genocide. Zarakolu had said after his arrest that during the
raid to his house the police confiscated only few books as "evidence
of crime" and found nothing about his so-called relations with any
organization.
The confiscated books are: Vol. 2 of Vatansiz Gazeteci (Stateless
Journalist) by Dogan Ozguden, chief editor of Info-Turk; Habiba by
Ender Ondes; Peace Process by Yuksel Genc; and manuscripts of three
books about the Armenian Genocide and Armenian History.
On Nov. 2, 2011, Human Rights Watch issued a statement noting that
the decision to imprison Zarakolu and others pending their trial on
terrorism charges exposes the huge deficiencies of Turkey's criminal
justice system. "The arrests of Ragip Zarakolu and Busra Ersanli
represent a new low in the misuse of terrorism laws to crush freedom
of expression and association in Turkey," said Emma Sinclair-Webb,
a Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Weekly Staff
April 10, 2012 in
ISTANBUL, Turkey-Publisher Ragip Zarakolu was released from prison
today pending trial along with 14 other suspects. He was taken into
custody on Oct. 28, 2011, during a large-scale manhunt in Istanbul
against Kurdish and human rights activists.
Zarakolu arrest 300x200 BREAKING NEWS: Zarakolu Released from Prison
Pending Trial
Zarakolu during his arrest.
An indictment on an alleged umbrella political organization (KCK)
that includes the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), was accepted by
an Istanbul court last week. The prosecutor is seeking up to 15
years for Zarakolu on charges of aiding a terrorist group, reported
Today's Zaman.
Zarakolu heads the Belge publishing house, which has published numerous
books on the oppression of the national minorities in Turkey and the
Armenian Genocide. Zarakolu had said after his arrest that during the
raid to his house the police confiscated only few books as "evidence
of crime" and found nothing about his so-called relations with any
organization.
The confiscated books are: Vol. 2 of Vatansiz Gazeteci (Stateless
Journalist) by Dogan Ozguden, chief editor of Info-Turk; Habiba by
Ender Ondes; Peace Process by Yuksel Genc; and manuscripts of three
books about the Armenian Genocide and Armenian History.
On Nov. 2, 2011, Human Rights Watch issued a statement noting that
the decision to imprison Zarakolu and others pending their trial on
terrorism charges exposes the huge deficiencies of Turkey's criminal
justice system. "The arrests of Ragip Zarakolu and Busra Ersanli
represent a new low in the misuse of terrorism laws to crush freedom
of expression and association in Turkey," said Emma Sinclair-Webb,
a Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch.