Writer Albayrak Acquitted

Hakan Albayrak, the former writer for the Milli Gazete, who was convicted and arrested for insulting Ataturk in one of his articles, was released from the Ankara Kalecik prison after serving for six months.

Erol Önderoğlu

Hakan Albayrak, the former writer for the "Milli Gazete" (National Newspaper), who was sentenced to 15 months in prison for "insulting Ataturk," was released after serving his term.

Albayrak was sentenced to prison based on law no: 5816 on "Crimes Against Ataturk," which remained outside the reach of Harmonization Laws. He was released from the Ankara Kalecik Prison on November 13 after serving for six months. Albayrak had been arrested on May 20.

He was convicted although he apologized

Albayrak was charged for writing, "Mustafa Kemal Pasha was buried without funeral prayers. And neither the state, nor the people were disturbed by this," in his article titled, "A Funeral Prayer," and published on June 20, 2000.

Before charges were brought against him, Albayrak apologized in his next article for errors in the article titled, "A Funeral Prayer." However both Albayrak, and editor-in-chief Mehmet Terzi were sentenced to 15 months in prison. The Supreme Court of Appeals later upheld the sentence handed to Albayrak and asked that Terzi's prison sentence is commuted to a fine. (EO/BB/EA/YE)

Origin

BÄ°A News Center

Erol Önderoğlu

[email protected]

all articles of the author

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.