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ANKARA: Prominent Turkish Journalists Freed, But Trial Continues

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  • ANKARA: Prominent Turkish Journalists Freed, But Trial Continues

    PROMINENT TURKISH JOURNALISTS FREED, BUT TRIAL CONTINUES

    Cumhuriyet
    March 13 2012
    Turkey

    An Istanbul court on Monday ordered two prominent journalists to be
    freed, a year after their arrest for allegedly plotting against the
    Islamist-rooted Turkish government, TV reports said.

    ISTANBUL- Nedim Sener and Ahmet Sik as well as a dozen other suspects
    have been charged with abetting a purported secularist network,
    named Ergenekon, that allegedly plotted assassinations and bombings
    to destabilise the governnment and prompt a military coup.

    Sener received the International Press Institute's World Press Freedom
    Hero award in 2010 for a book that blamed the security forces for
    the 2007 murder of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

    Two other detainees were also released, NTV and CNN-Turk television
    networks said.

    They will now be able to follow upcoming hearings of their trial
    as free men. The journalists face prison terms of up to 15 years if
    found guilty.

    Critics charge that the investigation, launched in 2007, has
    degenerated into a campaign to bully critical media and the opposition.

    A government spokesman hailed the court decision.

    "We cannot but rejoice at their release," said Bulent Arinc, quoted
    by the Anatolia news agency. "The fact that our friends, who are
    also journalists, spent 375 days, or more than a year, in preventive
    detention is reason for sadness."

    Media watchdog IPI has said that more than 100 journalists are
    currently being detained in Turkey.

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