JOURNALIST SENER IN COURT FOR BOOK CRITICISING SECURITY FORCES
Erol Onderoglu [email protected]
BIA Magazine
June 11 2009
Turkey
The court case of journalist Sener has begun in Istanbul. IPI and
the Turkey Journalists’ Society have condemned current legislation,
which makes such trials possible.
The court case of Milliyet newspaper’s journalist Nedim Sener began at
Istanbul’s 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance on Wednesday, 10 June.
Sener is the author of a book entitled "The Dink Murder and
Intelligence Lies". In the book, he 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.
Sener now faces a trial, without detention, because of the book. He
attended the hearing with lawyer Yucel Dosemeci.
Milliyet newspaper’s editor-in-chief Sedat Ergin also attended the
hearing in support of the journalist.
Following the publication of the book, several police officers who
filed criminal complaints against the writer: Ramazan Akyurek, then
Chief of Police in Trabzon and still in office as Police Intelligence
Unit Chief, Ali Fuat Yilmazer, then Police Intelligence C Unit Manager
and now Istanbul Intelligence Unit Chief and Muhittin Zenit, the
police officer who was responsible for police informant Erhan Tuncel,
who is now accused of encouraging Ogun Samast to kill Hrant Dink.
Another complaint was filed by Faruk Sari, Trabzon Police Intelligence
Branch Manager.
28 years demanded All in all, Sener faces 28 years imprisonment. He
stands accused of "targeting people involved in anti-terrorism
campaigns, revealing classified information, obtaining classified
information, violating the secrecy of these communications, and
attempting to influence the judiciary."
In his defense, Sener said that he had not attempted to influence
the judiciary, but had only tried to contribute to justice being done.
He added that there could be no question of him violating secrecy;
a simple Internet search would allow anyone to find the conversations
between police informant Erhan Tuncel and police officer Muhittin
Zenit. Furthermore, these conversations had been published in the
media long before his book was written.
Media faces increase in oppression The International Press Institute’s
National Committee published a statement in connection with Sener’s
trial, saying that the demand for 28 years imprisonment showed the
increase in oppression of the media in Turkey.
The committee said that last year’s amendments to the controversial
Law 301, which penalises the "denigration of the Turkish state or
state organs", were insufficient:
"Despite all our objections, the Turkish Penal Code, the Press Law
and the Anti-Terrorism Law still contains articles which threaten
the freedom of expression and press freedom."
Urgent need for new legislation The committee further drew attention
to the fact that not even Ogun Samast, the young man suspected of
killing Hrant Dink, is facing such a steep sentence.
They called on urgent changes to the current legislation, which
threatens journalists with imprisonment.
The Turkey Journalists’ Society (TGC) emphasised that Sener was being
tried in two cases, saying:
"For freedom of expression to be protected and provided, first of
all mentalities must change. This becomes clear with every case that
goes to court. The laws which allow the trial of not only Sener but
all journalists must be reconsidered from all dimensions."
The society called on everyone to lobby for a change in
legislation.