Prosecutor Calls For Acquittal of Taraf Newspaper Director

The prosecutor of the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court asked for the acquittal of Adnan Demir, director of Taraf newspaper. Demir is tried for a prison sentence because he spoke of "military neglect" when reporting about the Aktütün police station where 17 soldiers lost their lives in a raid by PKK rebels.

The prosecutor evaluated the publishing related to the raid as a part of freedom of the press. Therefore he asked for Demir not to be punished.

The journalist is trialed because of "publishing classified documents of the General Staff". In yesterday's (15 September) hearing the court gave Demir and his lawyer Ergin Cinmen the opportunity to speak up for the journalist's defense. The trial is to be continued on 20 October.

Accusation: breach of publication ban

Fikret Seçen, Istanbul Public Prosecutor, litigated Demir upon a complaint by the Genral Staff. Seçen demanded a 5 years prison sentence under article 329 of the Turkish Penalty Code (TCK).

The publication ban imposed by the General Staff Military Court was related to the news of 14 October 2008 with the headline "We told you to confess about Aktütün... Now we are talking". In the indictment it was reminded that the publication ban was imposed one day later.

Reason for the trial were the newspaper's issues dated 14-18, 26 and 28 October, publishing news related to the attack that happened on the evening of 3 Ocotber 2008.

More than 80 cases against Taraf newspaper

Currently, more than 80 cases have been opened against Taraf newspapers' officials and workers Ahmet Altan, Yasemin Çongar, Nevzat Çiçek, Mehmet Baransu, Bahar Kılıçgedik, Başar Arslan, Sibel Hürtaş, Adnan Keskin and Adnan Demir under charges of "violation of the secrecy of an investigation", attempting to influence a fair trial" and "influencing a court person". Most of the cases are part of the Ergenekon investigation.

Lawyer Ergin Cinmen has evaluated legal pressures on the newspaper for bianet before. He said: "No decision has been taken yet. But if the courts would decide for punishment in these cases and the provisions would be approved by the Court of Appeals, these files will go to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Turkey is turning into the Turkey of 1995 again, which means that Turkey will fall back into the category of countries that are systematically neglecting human rights. The judges must respect the criteria of the ECHR. Otherwise, the judiciary's decisions will jeopardize the European Union process and Turkey will be in a very difficult situation at the European Council". (EÖ/VK)