Court Bans pro-Kurdish Newspaper

The news regarding ex-guerilla leader Abdullah Öcalan being poisoned in a Turkish prison where he's condemned to a life sentence has been held as grounds for the decisions.

The journal won't be published for one month. Its lawyers said they would appeal to the ruling.

The court based its ruling on several articles of the Turkish Penal Code and the Press Law, which defines "appraisal of crime or criminals" and "propaganda of terrorist organization" as misdeeds.

"a legal intervention is necessary for the proper functioning of the democratic society", the ruling said.

"It's a legal scandal that a court can take two rulings with regard to the same case on the same day", reacted editor-in-chief of the daily Yüksel Genç.

Government denies allegations

News hit the media last week as Ocalan's lawyers disclosed that an independent laboratory found specimens of deadly chemicals on samples of hair taken from him.

It indicated that Ocalan is slowly poisoned, they claimed. The Ministry of Justice immediately refused the allegations and Ocalan was subjected to a check-up by doctors.

The medical jurisprudence report said no traces of poisoning has been detected on Öcalan, founder and long time leader of the guerilla group PKK.(EÖ/EÜ)