Kurdish Journalist Released After Nine Years

Hasan Özgün, a reporter with the pro-Kurdish daily "Özgür Gündem", was released on 21 April 2003 after more than nine years' imprisonment. He now faces a further 12-year jail term for"insulting state institutions".

"We are still waiting for Turkey to demonstrate the sincerity of its commitment to conform to the European Union's democratic standards," said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard.

"The outdated and frequent misuse of the law to gag the media must stop," he added.

"A bitter taste"

When Özgün left prison in the southwestern town of Aydin, he told Erol Onderoglu, RSF's representative in Turkey, that his release left him with "a bitter taste," and that he had suffered ill-treatment during his detention.

Özgün, who was "Özgür Gündem"'s correspondent in the southeastern town of Diyarbakir, will now be prosecuted for "insulting state institutions" (under Article 159 of the Criminal Code) in his 1998 petition for a new trial.

In the petition, he accused security forces of brutality in southeastern Anatolia under the state of emergency and of murdering journalists from pro-Kurdish newspapers.

New case on Oct. 9

The case will be heard on 9 October. The prosecution has called for a 12-year sentence.

Özgün was arrested in December 1993. On 17 January 1996, he was handed a 12-year and six-month prison sentence for "belonging to the Kurdistan Workers' Party" (PKK). Several of Özgün's colleagues were allegedly tortured and forced to make statements implicating the journalist while in police custody in 1993.

Four other journalists - Mustafa Benli, Kemal Evcimen, Memik Horuz and Nureddin Sirin - have been imprisoned for several years for having expressed their opinions as part of their journalistic work (NM)