Journalist on Trial Since 4.5 Years

Local Demokrat İskenderun newspaper owner Ersen Korkmaz has been on trial since 4.5 years for an article where he covered a panel on Kurdish guerilla leader Ocalan. If convicted, he faces three years in prison.

Erol Önderoğlu

Local Demokrat İskenderun newspaper owner Ersen Korkmaz has been on trial since 4.5 years for an article he wrote an article titled "They caught the leader of the Kurds and gave him to the fascists", covering a panel organized by Turkey's Communist Party (TKP).

Both Korkmaz and Necmettin Salaz from the organizing committee of the panel are tried with "insulting and humiliating the state's security forces and the army".

If convicted they face three years in prison.

The alleged crime was connoted at article 159 of the old Penal Code, which was considered as a serious obstacle in front of freedom of expression in the country. The same arrangements had been transferred as the infamous article 301 in the new Turkish Penal Code.

At the last sitting of the trial on March 30, İskenderun 2nd Court of First Instance declared that an invitation has not yet reached Salaz's lawyer.

To proceed with the case, judge Gülen Arslan urged that the video recording of the panel -taken from local Güneş TV- to be decoded.

The case has been postponed to May 22.(EÖ/EÜ)

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.