CHARGES AGAINST FOUR JOURNALISTS DROPPED

Hurriyet, Turkey
April 12 2006

Four prominent Turkish journalists were let off charges of insulting
Turkey’s courts yesterday, a fifth, however remained on trial. The five
were indicted in December after they criticized a court’s decision
to block a conference in Istanbul that was to discuss the so-called
Armenian genocide. The prosecution charged the five journalists
under articles that penalize insults to the judiciary and attempts
to influence the justice, such charges can carry a prison sentence
of up to 10 years.

The journalists accused were Hasan Cemal, Ýsmet Berkan, Haluk Þahin and
Erol Katircioglu. The charges were dropped on grounds that prosecutors
had not filed charges within the required two-month period following
the publication of the articles.

The trial of Murat Belge a columnist for the liberal Radikal newspaper
will continue.

Like Sahin, Katircioglu and Belge are also columnists for Radikal,
while Berkan is also the newspaper’s editor-in-chief. Cemal is a
senior editorialist for the mass-selling Milliyet.

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