BÝA, Turkey
July 10 2006
"Agos" Case A Stage of Violence Again
Case of journalists Hrant Dink, Engin, Seropyan and Arat Dink charged with
"attempt to influence a fair trial" was adjourned to December after the
hearing subsequent to a fight between lawyers. Lawyer Ceylan was punched in
face, his glasses were broken.
BIA News Center
10/07/2006 Erol ONDEROGLU
BÝA (Istanbul) – The trial of Armenian "Agos" newspaper journalists Hrant
Dink, Aydin Engin, Serkis Seropyan and Arat Dink charged with "attempting to
influence a fair trial" by way of criticizing a court verdict banning a 2005
Ottoman Armenians Conference in Istanbul continued this Tuesday with a fight
breaking out between lawyers before the hearing, a protest outside the court
house afterwards and heavy security measures that prevented neither.
Prior to the June 4 hearing at the Sisli 2nd Civilian Court of First
Instance a fight broke out between defence lawyers and attorneys of
complainants during which Deniz Ceylan, representing the defendants, was
punched in the face and his glasses were broken.
The case was later adjourned to December 12 by Chief Justice Hilmi Aslan as
a group of demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse to shout slogans in
protest of the defendants.
Serkis Seropyan was the only defendant who attended this weeks hearing to
testify.
Seropyan told the court that readers of his newspaper had reacted to a
sentence of Hrant Dink by another court and that the paper had covered this
story due to its news value. He asked to be acquitted.
About 30 lawyers including Fethiye Cetin, Yucel Sayman, Fikret Ilkiz, Erdal
Dogan, Bahri Bayram Belen and Filiz Kerestecioglu represented the defendants
while the complainants were represented by four lawyers .
Kemal Kerincsiz, an attorney for the complainants, told the court that the
defendants aimed to destroy the Turkish Republic and to hinder the judicial
system by making it ineffective.
The case was opened after Kerincsiz, a leading member of the right-wing
organisation of a group of Turkish lawyers who call themselves "The Unity of
Jurists" and nine other individuals filed a criminal complaint against the
journalists and they were subsequently charged under article 288 of the
Penal Code. If they are found guilty, each can be sentenced to up to 4.5
years imprisonment.
Cetin: This case is harmful
Evaluating the ongoing trial for bianet, jurist Fethiye Cetin said the fact
that this trial is taking so long was "a great disadvantage and even
harmful" for the economics of a trial. "All the court needs to do" she said,
"is to examine the articles and comments, and pass a verdict" (EO/AD/II/YE)
–Boundary_(ID_/KkS5oEzsnWuW4/7FG3C OQ)–