Two Acquittals under Article 301 for Nokta Interview

The Bakirköy 2nd Penal Court in Istanbul has acquitted Nokta magazine journalist Ahmet Sik and security expert Lale Sariibrahimoglu in a case brought under Article 301. Citing Article 223 of the Criminal Procedure Court, the court decided that there was no intention of and no elements of crime.

In an interview published on 8 February 2007 and entitled “The military must keep out of domestic security”, Sik and Sariibrahimoglu discussed the fact that Samsun security officers took photos with O.S., the suspected gunman of journalist Hrant Dink.

"Criticism is journalist's duty" 

On 3 April was the second hearing of the case, in which up to 2 years imprisonment each had been demanded.

Sik had said in court, “It is a citizen’s duty to criticise mistakes in official institutions. I did my duty as a journalist and this was a freedom of expression case. The indictment was created out of a few sentences taken out of context.”

"Some truth in criticism" 

The prosecution had concluded its deliberations by saying that the comments in the interview had to be viewed as heavy criticism rather than a crime.
The lawyers of the defendants agreed with the prosecution and demanded acquittal. Fikret Ilkiz, lawyer for Sik, added that the Hrant Dink murder trial at the Istanbul 14th Heavy Penal Court, as well as the court cases against security officers in Samsun and Trabzon, showed that there was some truth in the comments made at the interview.

"Dirt and corruption need to be cleaned"

Part of the interview read as follows:

“While the police officers involved in the pictures with Dink’s gunman, which emerged in the press, were taken from office, the soldiers were only transferred to other places of duty. When we consider this, we see people concerned with not only protecting personnel, but also an institution and an attitude. It became clear once again in the Dink investigation that all three institutions (the police, gendarmerie and army) have dirt and corruption which needs to be cleaned. What do they mean by saying, ‘the soldiers’ morale must be kept high’? Don’t let them get involved in crimes, then their morale will stay high…Don’t let them have complexes about taking orders from civilians. That is a sick way of looking at things. We have a military structure in front of us which tries to take the initiative all the time. Such an army is dangerous for everyone. It can even frighten the political power in society. (EÖ/GG/AG)