TURKISH COURT AGAIN POSTPONES COURT HEARING OF CASE FILED AGAINST ARAT DINK AND SARGIS SEROBIAN
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Jul 18 2007
ISTANBUL, JULY 18, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Turkish court
again postponed the trial of the case filed against Arat Dink and
Sargis Serobian on the indications of Article 301 of the Criminal
Code. This information was provided by the "Cihan" agency.
The trial of the case filed against Arat Dink, the son of Hrant Dink,
the former editor-in-chief of the Weekly "Agos", and Sargis Serobian,
the responsible secretary of the Weekly, took place in the court
of Shishli on July 18, however, the latters were not present at the
trial. The lawyers of the defendants claimed from the court to acquit
their defendants. However, the court made a decision to postpone the
regular trial in order to make a study of the documents, which are
connected with the case.
It should also be mentioned that Arat Dink, the editor of the Weekly
"Agos", and Sargis Serobian, the responsible secretary of the Weekly,
appeared before the court on the charge of "insulting the Turkish
identity" on June 14.
According to the Daily "Radikal", Hrant Dink, Arat Dink, and Sargis
Serobian were charged after the interview of the former editor-in-chief
with the "Reuters" agency was published in the July 22, 2006 issue
of the Weekly "Agos", in which Hrant Dink classed the 1915 events as
"genocide."
Prosecutor Mucahid Ercan claimed to sentence the defendants to three
years of imprisonment for "insulting the Turkish identity."