JOURNALIST SENER: I HAVE BECOME A TARGET

BIAnet
Dec 21 2009
Turkey

The court prosecuting journalist Nedim Å~^ener for his book "The Dink
Murder and the Intelligence’s Lies" did not accept the folders sent
by the court dealing with the Hrant Dink murder case, but asked once
more for specific information whether the diagrams from the book are
included in the file or not.

Erol ONDEROÄ~^LU hukuk@bianet.org Ankara – BÄ°A News Center20 December
2009, Sunday Cumhuriyet newspaper journalist Nedim Å~^ener faces a
total of 32 years 6 months imprisonment in 3 different trials related
to his book "The Dink Murder and the Intelligence’s Lies". Å~^ener
stated at court, "I could not comprehend which terror organizations
I made the complaining police officers a target of. I did not expose
them but myself".

In the book, the journalist writes about the negligence and attempts
to cover up this negligence of gendarmerie, police and the Turkish
secret service prior to the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink in 2007.

Å~^ener stands accused for exposing the plaintiffs as a target to
the Ergenekon organization, a clandestine ultra-nationalist terrorist
organization charged with plotting to overthrow the government. In the
hearing of one of the trials before the Istanbul 11th High Criminal
Court on 16 December journalist Å~^ener argued, "I worked on revealing
relations to the Dink murder. In fact, I put forth connections to
the Ergenekon organization".

Court expects an explicit answer instead of folders Following the
publication of the book, several police officers filed criminal
complaints against the writer: Ramazan Akyurek, then Chief of Police
in Trabzon and deposed from office as Police Intelligence Unit Chief
in September, police officer of the Intelligence Office Presidency
Muhittin Zenit, Faruk Sarı, Trabzon Police Intelligence Branch
Manager and Ali Fuat Yılmazer, Deputy Chief of the Istanbul Police.

Å~^ener is tried under charges of "targeting people involved in
anti-terrorism campaigns" and "obtaining and revealing classified
information". The latest hearing was also attended by journalist
Haluk Å~^ahin to support un-detained defendant Å~^ener.

In the hearing on 23 October the court required information from
the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court dealing with the Hrant Dink
murder case whether the relating file contains the diagrams which are
attached to Å~^ener’s book. However, the court replied by sending 2
folders from the relevant file and added: "If you want, we can also
send you 35 further folders".

Thus, the court did not wait for the day of the next hearing but
send a second writing in order to obtain information on the requested
topic only, as declared by the court. The case is to be continued on
17 February 2010.

Complainant Ali Fuat Yılmazer’s lawyer Seyfettin Uzuncakmak presented
Å~^ener’s earlier book entitled "Code Name Atilla" as evidence for
"targeting people". However, writer Å~^ener claimed this was merely
a tactic to prolong the trial.

The journalist indicated that he believes in a positive outcome of
the case once the court has acquired several documents, saying that
the deposition of Akyurek proved him right.

Another hearing on 22 December Following the complaints of Akyurek,
Yılmazer, Sarı and Zenit, Å~^ener faces 8 years imprisonment at the
Bakırköy (Istanbul) 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance due to a
diagram published in his books. That case was postponed to 22 December.

A third lawsuit has been opened against the writer based on a
certain content of his latest book, namely a diagram showing telephone
communication traffic between defendants of the Dink murder case and a
couple of defendants from the Ergenekon case. The prosecution demands
a 4 years 6 months prison sentence in this trial, which is also heard
at the Bakırköy 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance. (EO/VK)

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress