Agos Weekly, Istanbul
Dec 21 2009

`Heavy’ Penalty for Threatening Agos

Our newspaper has been subject to insults, threats and racist remarks
received by mail. The Istanbul Second Criminal Court of Peace in the
Å?iÅ?li district ordered the defendant Kenan
CelepoÄ?lu to pay a fine of 8000 Turkish Liras.

In December 2008, our newspaper’s attorney’s filed a criminal
complaint against an unknown perpetrator or perpetrators. As a result
of completed investigations, Kenan CelepoÄ?lu, a resident of the Samsun
province in northern Turkey, was prosecuted for `assault via audio- or
visual-message’. The lawyers claimed that in addition to the offense
of libel, the message in dispute contained a `threat’ and that it was
`inciting the public to act with hatred and hostility and
degradation’. They demanded that the culprit be sentenced for all
these accusations.

The intensity of his intention and his harsh words were taken into
consideration and the culprit was punished by the heavy penalty form
of the sentence for the offence of libel during the lawsuit. No
reductions were made, due to the presence of the intention of
discrimination. Additionally, the court filed a criminal complaint to
the prosecutor’s office from the clauses `threat’ and `inciting public
to act with hatred and hostility and degrading’.

`Hopeful Examples for Justice’

We got attorney Fethiye Ã?etin’s opinion on the case. Ã?etin emphasized
the importance of the verdict and added that it gave hope for the
establishment of a sense of justice. `Although we had filed a petition
for penalties on many different issues, the fact that the criminal
complaint took legal action only for `the offence of libel’ created a
negative atmosphere. I find the verdict, which has corrected that
negativity, very important.’ Ã?etin noted that in another case of libel
committed against Agos, determined this year, the guilty party was
sentenced without any reduction of penalty by the First Regional Court
of Å?iÅ?li. `That these kinds of racist, aggressive actions are punished
without any reductions is promising and constructive for the Turkish
justice system. We think that these kinds of examples are not only
deterrents to further crimes but are also encouraging for other
judges, too.’ said Ã?etin.

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