OSCE TELLS TURKEY TO STOP PROSECUTING AUTHOR OF AN INVESTIGATIVE BOOK ABOUT HRANT DINK
armradio.am
20.06.2009 12:24
Turkey should stop prosecuting the author of an investigative book
about the murder of well-known ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
a European media watchdog has said in a letter to Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu, Today’s Zaman reported.
Author Nedim Sener, himself a journalist, said earlier this month he is
facing up to 28 years in prison if convicted in two cases on charges
of obtaining classified documents and insulting government officials
by claiming an intelligence cover-up over the 2007 killing of Dink.
The killing led to international condemnation and a debate within
Turkey about free speech. Sener’s book, "Dink Murder and Intelligence
Lies," claims police and military officials ignored tips about the
2007 killing before it occurred. The government has launched an
investigation into the allegations.
Miklos Haraszti, the media freedom representative of the Vienna-based
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said,
"Justice must not be degraded into an act of revenge by the criticized
authorities."
"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," Haraszti wrote in
the letter to Davutoglu. A Turkish government spokes man declined to
comment on the criticism.
Haraszti also urged Turkey to reform laws that restrict free
speech. "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,"
Haraszti said.