(RSF/IFEX) – On 8 December 2000, the Turkish parliament passed a “law on the release on parole and postponement of sentences” that should lead to the early release of nearly half the inmates in Turkish jails, a total of over 30,000 prisoners. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer now has two weeks to approve or veto the […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 8 December 2000, the Turkish parliament passed a “law on the release on parole and postponement of sentences” that should lead to the early release of nearly half the inmates in Turkish jails, a total of over 30,000 prisoners. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer now has two weeks to approve or veto the law. RSF fully endorses any law intended to release journalists who were jailed only because they expressed their opinions, but cannot subscribe to the idea that murderers of journalists be released. “In our view, it is unacceptable to consider in the same light a journalist who was simply exercising his right to inform freely, and a murderer,” stated RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “We therefore hope that the president will veto the law so that it can be re-examined and amended, making it fairer, especially for the victims’ families,” he added.
A rider to this so-called amnesty law provides for the release of authors of statements not published in the press, as is the case, for instance, of Yalçin Küçük, an editorialist for the left-wing weekly “Heplieri”, arrested in October 1998 and sentenced to ten years and three months’ imprisonment. The law also provides for the release of several journalists sentenced in accordance with Article 169 of the Penal Code for “assisting an illegal organisation”.
On the other hand, the law would allow the release of all prisoners sentenced to less than ten years in jail, including those convicted of murder. Mehmet Ali Agça, the person behind the murder of Abdi Ipekçi, managing editor of the daily “Milliyet”, in 1979, would thus be released, and the five policemen sentenced for the murder in 1996 of Metin Gôktepe, reporter with the daily “Evrensel”, would not serve the rest of their sentence.
Another clause would allow the suspension of legal procedures for the presumed murderers of two journalists. Ugur Mumcu and Ahmet Taner Kislali, both editorialists with the left-wing daily “Cumhuriyet”, were murdered in 1993 and 1999, respectively.
RSF notes that four journalists are currently in jail in Turkey: Yalçin Küçük, of the left-wing weekly “Hepileri”, Hasan Özgün, of the far left-wing daily “Özgür Gündem”, Asiye Zeybek Güzel, of the far left-wing weekly “Atllim”, and Nureddin Sirin, of the Islamist weekly “Selam”. Sixty-five others are also detained without it being possible to ascertain whether they are in jail for their journalistic activities or for their opinions.
