Journalist On Trial For Last Five Years

Government representatives have said about the controversial Article 301, that "we cannot abolish it, we can change it".

However, Ersen Korkmaz, owner of the local Demokrat Iskenderun newspaper, is not being tried under Article 301, but under its predecessor in the old Turkish Penal Code, Article 159.

Three year prison sentence 

After watching a panel organised by the Turkish Communist Party (TKP) and writing an article entitled "The Leader of the Kurds Has Been Taken and Delivered to the Fascists", Ersen Korkmaz, as well as TKP member Necmettin Salaz have been charged with "insulting and ridiculing the army and security forces", a charge which carries a three-year prison sentence.

The panel took place in September 2002. At today's  (14 November) hearing at the Iskenderun Penal Court, it was decided that the analysis of a CD with recordings from the panel would be waited for. The next hearing is on 14 March 2008.

On trial for last five years 

Korkmaz told bianet that he has been on trial for five years now. He has followed the government's messages on Article 301, but does not know what will happen, which worries him.

Minister of Justice Mehmet Ali Sahin has said, "we are not considering its abolition", but has announced that it would be discussed in parliament by the end of this year.

What does Article 301 say?

1. A person who publicly denigratesTurkishness, the Republic or the Grand National Assembly of  Turkey, shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and three years.
2. A person who publicly denigrates the Government of the Republic of Turkey, the judicial institutions of the State, the military or security organizations shall be punishable by imprisonment of between six months and two years.
3. In cases where denigration of Turkishness is committed by a Turkish citizen in another country the punishment shall be increased by one third.
4. Expressions of thought intended to criticize shall not constitute a crime.

What did Article 159 say?

A person who insults or ridicules Turkishness, the Turkish nation, the Turkishstate, the Turkish Grand National Assembly, the cabinet, ministries, courts, the state's armed or security forces or their representatives shall be punishable by imprisonment of between one and three years.
Should the crime described be committed in writing, it is accepted as insult or ridicule even if the target is not openly declared, if the target is easily identified.
Anyone damning the laws of the Turkish Republic or decisions passed by the Grand National Assembly shall be punished with imprisonment of bewteeen one and six months.
Should the insult and ridicule of Turkishness, the Turkish nation and the Turkish state be committed by a Turkish citizen living abroad, the punishment is to be increased by a third.(EÖ/AG)