(WiPC/IFEX) – Two trial hearings held 15 February 2006 at a court in Istanbul against publisher Ragip Zarakolu were adjourned once again, this time to 19 April. Zarakolu is being tried for publishing two books, both by Armenian authors, deemed to be insulting to the Turkish state under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – Two trial hearings held 15 February 2006 at a court in Istanbul against publisher Ragip Zarakolu were adjourned once again, this time to 19 April.
Zarakolu is being tried for publishing two books, both by Armenian authors, deemed to be insulting to the Turkish state under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Zarakolu faces a maximum of six years in prison.
International PEN considers Zarakolu to be one of the foremost defenders of free expression in Turkey and is calling for an end to all judicial proceedings against him.
International PEN has consistently protested the trials against the many writers, journalists and publishers who have been brought before the Turkish Courts under Penal Code Article 301, on charges that are a blatant contravention of the international human rights standards to which Turkey is formally committed. It sees such trials as undermining the Turkish government’s efforts to bring the country into conformity with these standards. It calls for there to be a halt to all trials against writers and journalists, and for a further review of the Turkish legislation that allows for such prosecutions.
A long-time campaigner for freedom of expression, human and minority rights, Zarakolu is rarely out of the courtroom. In August 2005, the trial was opened against him for a book by Dora Sakayan entitled “Garaet Hachaeryan’s Izmir Journal: An Armenian Doctor’s Experience”. Some months earlier, in December 2004, hearings were opened for his publication of George Jerjian’s “History Will Free Us All: Turkish/Armenian Conciliation”.
Several hearings have been held in these cases, and others, many, including those today, have been attended by observers from International PEN and the International Publisher’s Association. Zarakolu is an Honorary Member of the American, English, Quebec, Kurdish, Canadian, Netherlands and Swedish PEN Centres.
To access previous PEN protests on behalf of Ragip Zarakolu case go to:
http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/index.php?pid=33&aid=409&query=zarakolu
http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/index.php?pid=33&aid=403&query=zarakolu
