The New Anatolian, Turkey
Oct 12 2007
Agos editors become new victims of 301
The New Anatolian / Ankara
12 October 2007
Arat Dink, editor-in-chief of the Agos weekly, and Serkis Seropyan,
publisher of the weekly, were sentenced on Thursday to one year in
prison on charges of "insulting Turkishness".
The Criminal Court in Sisli district of Istanbul decided to suspend
the imprisonment terms since Dink and Seropyan did not have criminal
records.
The Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism Initiative (DurDe) assembled
supporters outside the court house.
Arat Dink is the son of murdered journalist Hrant Dink.
The trial concerned news items on Hrant Dink’s recognition of an
"Armenian genocide" and a campaign opposing Article 301, precisely
the Article they are being tried under.
In a press statement, DurDe stated that Article 301 needed to be
abolished, the murder of Hrant Dink needed to be solved, and racists
needed to be brought to justice. The second hearing in the Hrant Dink
murder case, which took place on 1 October, was called "shameful".
"The court has not given permission to investigate the police officer
who took part in the planning of a murder and whose telephone
conversation has been listened to by the whole of Turkey. A police
officer who said about Hrant, ‘If he’s snuffed it, he’s snuffed it’
is now working next to the former Trabzon Chief of Police. Both have
been protected and rewarded."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress