OSCE URGES TURKEY TO STOP PROSECUTION OF JOURNALIST SENER
BIA Magazine
June 19 2009
Turkey
Haraszti, media freedom representative of the OSCE, has urged Turkey to
drop the case against journalist Sener and to reform laws restricting
freedom of expression.
Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media,
asked Turkish authorities yesterday (18 June) to drop charges against
journalist Nedim Sener for his investigative book on the murder of
fellow journalist Hrant Dink, and called for urgent reform of laws
that restrict freedom of expression.
Letter to Foreign Minister Sener is prosecuted in defiance of freedoms
that both OSCE commitments and Council of Europe standards grant to
critical publications," wrote Haraszti in a letter to Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu. "What he did was critically assess the events leading
up to Hrant Dink’s murder, and the deficiencies afterwards in the
handling of the case and in the prosecution of the perpetrators."
"Justice must not be degraded into an act of revenge by the criticized
authorities," said Haraszti.
Sener, a journalist for newspaper Milliyet, faces up to 28 years
of imprisonment for writing a book, entitled The Dink Murder and
Intelligence Lies. The book alleges that security forces failed to
stop the murder of the well-known Turkish-Armenian writer in 2007,
and cites alleged incidents of negligence by gendarmerie, police and
national intelligence officers working on the case.
"Media freedom commitments may be complied with only if fact-finding
journalism receives the full backing of the law, and inaccuracies, if
any have occurred, are not criminalized," wrote Haraszti in the letter.
Legislation must be modernised "There exist legal provisions in Turkey
that could be misused to curb freedom of expression and information,"
he added. "The Criminal Code, the Press Law, the Anti-Terrorism Law,
and the recent Law No. 5651 on Internet regulation all need to be
modernized so that they cannot be used to restrict speech rights."
"By dropping the charges against Sener, Turkey could now stop punishing
the messengers of unwelcome news, and instead carry out much-needed
legal reform to ensure freedom of expression."
Hrant Dink had publicly discussed the killing of Armenians in 1915
in terms that went against the official Turkish interpretations of
history. For this, he was convicted in 2005 based on Article 301 of
the Criminal Code, "denigrating Turkishness’, and murdered in January
2007 by radical activists. The trial of the persons accused in his
murder still continues. (OSCE/AG)
* This press release was taken from the OSCE website. Sub-headings
were added by bianet.