Court has no Money for Stamps

Ozic of Radyo Dunya cant appeal the one-year prison sentence he got for criticizing the motion to send Turkish troops to Iraq and to accept foreign troops. The court wasnt able to send the verdict to the journalist since there was no money for stamps.

Erol Önderoğlu

The outcome about journalist Sabri Ejder Ozic's trial could not be delivered to him because the court had no money to buy stamps. The United States of America had talked about the journalist's sentence in a human rights report by the Foreign Ministry.

Because the decision was not delivered to him, lawyer Meric Tumer could not appeal the decision taken on December 30, 2003.

Lawyer Tumer who went and personally received the court decision, will appeal it in the coming days.

An Adana court had sentenced journalist Ozic to a year in prison for what he said on the local radio station "Radio World," on February 24, 2003 when the cabinet of ministers sent a motion to the parliament. The motion was about sending Turkish troops to Iraq and accepting foreign troops in Turkey.

The reporter was charged with "insulting the parliament," and was sentenced on grounds of article 159 of the Turkish Penal Code.

The court refused to reduce or postpone the sentence saying the journalist could repeat the same crime.

Ozic was sentenced because of what he said during the program called "Captain's Cruise Journal," at the time he owned the radio.

The journalist had said that intervening in Iraq would not be a legitimate action, and that it would be a terrorist action like every illegitimate action. He also drew attention to the fact that President Ahmet Necdet Sezer had advocated the necessity of a United Nations resolution for the action.

"If the decision to send soldiers to a terrorist action and to accept soldiers in will come from the parliament, then this parliament is a terrorist parliament," Ozic had said during the radio program. (EO/BB/EA/NM)

Erol Önderoğlu

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İstanbul Üniversitesi Fransız Filolojisi Bölümü'nden mezun. 1996'da muhabiri olduğu uluslararası Sınır Tanımayan Gazeteciler (RSF) örgütünün Türkiye temsilcisi olarak çalışıyor. 1999'dan beri İPS İletişim Vakfı'nın projesi olan bianet sitesinde, Hukuki Destek Masası koordinatörü, ifade özgürlüğü editörü ve yayın yönetmeni olarak çalıştı. 4.800'den fazla imzalı haber ve makalesi bulunuyor. Bizim Gazete ve Güncel Hukuk dergisi için haber ve makaleler yazdı. Halen bianet'te Medya Gözlem Raporları'nı hazırlıyor.