A special media prosecution office in Istanbul has decided to voluntarily discontinue criminal charges for bianet staff on Thursday, upon the defamation complaint from Sedat Selim Ay, Istanbul's Police Commissioner on Anti-Terrorism.
In July, Police Chief Ay filed a suitcase against bianet staff including Haluk Kalafat (editor-in-chief), Ekin Karaca, Çiçek Tahaoğlu (editor), Samet Akten (intern), Sibel Yalin and Füsun Erdoğan (contributing writers).
"As everyone knows, media has the duty to inform public and it is not illegal," the prosecution office decided. The decision also mentioned the Article 10 of European Declaration of Human Rights, which defined freedom of expression.
Some of the highlights from the decision included:
* ECHR underscores that if it was obligatory to publish only thoroughly proved facts, the media would have found no content.
* The Jersild ve Thoma-Denmark case ruled that, if a journalist is prosecuted because they published a claim made by a third person, it jeopardizes the discussion of public issues through the media.
* As cited in ECHR and Turkish Appeals Court verdicts, it is tolerable to include a certain doze of offensive language when a journalist intends to criticize a certain individual or institution to reveal a fact and galvanize the public.
* The Istanbul special media prosecution office investigated the complaint news articles and found no evidence of defamation or breach of personal rights that requires further investigation. (ÇT/HK/BM)
