(RSF/IFEX) – The trial of Hrant Dink, the managing editor of the weekly “Agos”, has again been adjourned, this time until December 2006. He was charged in October 2005 with trying to influence the course of justice by criticising the suspended six-month prison sentence he had received for “insulting Turkish identity.” In all, he has […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The trial of Hrant Dink, the managing editor of the weekly “Agos”, has again been adjourned, this time until December 2006. He was charged in October 2005 with trying to influence the course of justice by criticising the suspended six-month prison sentence he had received for “insulting Turkish identity.” In all, he has been hounded by the judicial authorities for more than a year.
Citing the principle of free expression, a provincial court acquitted him of the insult charge on 10 February, but this ruling was subsequently overturned by a higher appeals court in the capital, Ankara. Dink’s son, Arat, and two other “Agos” journalists, Aydin Engin and Serkis Seropiyan, are also to be tried on the same charge of trying to influence the course of justice. They all face up to three years in prison.
