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PROMINENT TURKISH JOURNALISTS FREED, BUT TRIAL CONTINUES
Agence France Presse
March 12, 2012 Monday 7:21 PM GMT
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.
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.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Agence France Presse
March 12, 2012 Monday 7:21 PM GMT
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.
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.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress