Two Books Accused of Obscenity

After his acquittal, Cartoonist Ustündağ is being sued again for obscenity of his book Sunday Lovers which has been sent to an expert for further investigation. The writer of the other book Apple; Batur is expected to give evidence to the court.

Erol Önderoğlu

Metin Üstündag's Caricature Album "Sunday Lovers" and Enis Batur's novel "Apple" are being retried after the Court of Appeals sent back the local court's acquittal of two years ago. .

İrfan Sancı, the owner of Sel Publications, which published both books, reacted against the re-trials and said "re-trying 'Sunday Lovers' will be remembered as an example of intolerance and added "Apple" will be published in France in January 2005.

Cartoonist Üstündağ, Sancı and the lawyer Bülent Utku attended the hearing at Istanbul 2.Court of First Instance while Batur was absent.

The court discussed the cases separately during the hearing and sent the "Sunday Lovers" to an expert for a second opinion and requested Batur's testimony.. The court scheduled the next hearing for February 9th, 2005. (EÖ/BB/CC/YE)

Origin

BÄ°A News Center

Erol Önderoğlu

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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.