Justice Ministry Refuses Article 301 Case

Justice Ministry refused the trial of journalist İbrahim Tığ under article301, who had criticized government’s privatization program and called it an act of treason.

Erol Önderoğlu

Ministry of Justice did not give permission for the trial of İbrahim Tığ, editor of the newspaper “Devrek Bölge Haber” (Devrek Regional News), under article 301. The complaint that Tığ “openly denigrated the government” come from Zonguldak Governorship (a province in western Black Sea region, where Devrek is located), but the ministry refused the case on June 17.

Erdem: Ministry made the right decision

Pelin Aydemir Erdem, lawyer of the newspaper, said a writer should be able to write freely and therefore the ministry made the right decision.

Following ministry’s decision, Devrek prosecutor İbrahim Çetin closed the case on June 20.

Governorship filed a complaint for the article “Those who sell the motherland and its assets”

İbrahim Tığ’s article “Here are those who sell the motherland and its assets”, which was published in his column named “Sınır Noktası” (Frontier Point) on March 14, 2008, was about privatizations. He argued in his article that the previous governments of DYP-SHP and ANAP-DYP-DSP had also conducted many privatization programs, but the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) held the record in this area. He furthermore equated this with treason.

Zonguldak governorship construed the article as an act of denigration under article 301 and filed the complaint.

Only one trial permission among seven “301” files

According to the revised article 301, filing a case under this article titled “Denigrating the Turkish Nation, the State of Turkish Republic, the Organs and Institutions of the State” is possible only with permission of the Ministry of Justice.

According to the media, prosecutors have sent sixty article 301 cases to the ministry for permission. Seven of them have been decided and among them only one received permission of trial under article 301. (EÖ/EZÖ/TB)

Origin

BÄ°A News Center

freedom of expression Article 301 İbrahim Tığ

Erol Önderoğlu

[email protected]

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A graduate of the French Language and Literature Department at İstanbul University. He has served as the Turkey representative for the international organization Reporters Without...

A graduate of the French Language and Literature Department at İstanbul University. He has served as the Turkey representative for the international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), where he began as a reporter in 1996. Since 1999, he has worked at bianet, a project of the IPS Communication Foundation, as the coordinator of the Legal Support Desk, editor for freedom of expression, and editor-in-chief. He has authored more than 4,800 signed news articles and opinion pieces. He has also written for Bizim Gazete and the journal Güncel Hukuk. He currently prepares the Media Monitoring Reports at bianet.