WRITER DEMIRER AWAITING COURT’S 301 DECISION
BIA Magazine
Feb 9 2009
Turkey
The trial against writer Temel Demirer has been stalled by an appeal
for cancellation to an administrative court. Demirer spoke of a
"murderous state" when referring to the assassination of journalist
Hrant Dink.
Following Minister of Justice Mehmet Ali Å~^ahin’s decision to allow
the trial of writer Temel Demirer under the notorious Article 301,
the 2nd Ankara Criminal Court of First Instance is awaiting whether
the Ankara 4th Administrative Court will cancel this permission.
Up to two years imprisonment
Demirer is accused of "denigrating the state of the Turkish Republic"
and faces up to two years imprisonment.
The administrative court may take until 29 May to make a decision. The
writer’s lawyers, Filiz Kalaycı and Levent Kanat appealed for
a cancellation of permission for trial on 10 November 2008 to the
administrative court. When this court rejected the appeal for stopping
the trial, the lawyers then appealed to the regional administrative
court. The Ankara Criminal Court of First Instance has been awaiting
a decision of this second administrative court since 14 November 2008.
"A positive sign" Kalaycı told bianet that it was a positive sign,
both for this and future 301 cases, that the criminal court was
awaiting the decision of the administrative court. "If this becomes
normal for all 301 cases, then we believe that fair trials are at
least partially taking place."
Kanat said that they had demanded a copy of the report on the
murder of Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian journalist, compiled by the
Prime Ministerial Investigation Committee. The criminal court has
indicated that it will await the decree of the administrative court
before evaluating any further demands, but has allowed the defence
to obtain a copy by themselves.
Call on intellectuals to commit "301 crimes under Article 301"
Demirer had said, "Hrant Dink was not killed for being Armenian,
but for recognising the genocide [of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
in 1915]."
Public Prosecutor Levent SavaÅ~_ wrote an indictment on 24 December
2007, including police reports, transcripts of recordings prepared by
the police, and CDs. Demirer spoke at a meeting in protest at Dink’s
murder and is said to have said:
"(…) We are living in a country that conspires to kill those
who shout out the truth. Hrant was not only murdered because he
was Armenian, but because he told the truth about the genocide that
happened in this country. If Turkish intellectuals do not commit 301
crimes under Article 301, they will also have murderered Hrant. We
have a genocide in our history, an Armenian genocide. Hrant told
us all the truth about this and paid for it with his life. Those
who do not commit crimes against this murderous state are also
murderers. Those who killed the Armenians in the past, are now
attacking our Kurdish brothers. Those who want brotherhood of peoples
need to face history. We must commit offences so that what happened
to our Armenian brothers and sisters does not happen to our Kurdish
brothers and sisters. I call on all of you to commit offences. Yes,
there was an Armenian genocide in this country."
–Boundary_(ID_gvPw7uPoo/iuyMdmkNqw ow)–