On 29 March, the Bakırköy (Istanbul) 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance heard the statement of journalist Semra Pelek who stands trial together with Mustafa Dolu, Editor-in-Chief of Akşam newspaper. Pelek, former editor of the nation-wide daily, and Dolu are being sued on the grounds of publishing the statement of former Air Force Commander ret. General İbrahim Fırtına given to the prosecution in the context of the Ergenekon investigation.
The clandestine ultra-national Ergenekon organisation is said to have planned to create chaos in the country with murders and attacks to eventually overthrow the government.
Journalist Pelek stated at the Tuesday hearing, "As the editor of the page I did a technical work. I am not the author of this news item".
Dolu did not attend the hearing and the court decided to bring the responsible manager to court on compulsion. The next hearing of the trial was set to 11 August.
Prosecutor demanded eight-year prison sentence
Pelek is tried for editing the article entitled ""Questions to Fırtına from Aydın Doğan, Rahmi Koç and Akçakoca" published on 5 January 2010. The article was continued on page 16 of the same issue under the heading "I reject, I curse".
In the indictment prepared on 1 March, Public Prosecutor Pircan Barut Emre demanded prison terms of up to eight years on charges of Aricle 285 and 288 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK) on "Violation of Confidentiality" and the "Attempt to influence a fair trial" respectively.
Dolu submitted his defence in writing to the court at the beginning of the trial. He put forward that he was not responsible for the news item and pointed to page editor Pelek. (EÇ/EÖ/VK)
