Turkish journalist sued for writing a book about Hrant Dink assassination acquitted

PanARMENIAN.Net - Nedim Sener, a reporter sued for his portrayal of the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, has been acquitted in the case, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

The journalist faced trial for “making targets of civil servants,” “obtaining secret documents” and “exposing secret documents” in his book, “Hrant Dink Cinayeti ve İstihbarat Yalanları” (The Hrant Dink Murder and Intelligence Lies).

The court concluded that some of the plaintiff names “were already known by the public before the book’s release and that the so-called secret documents in the book were accessible in the Dink assassination case before its publication.”

“I do not approve of the case’s participants washing their dirty hands with this file,” said Sener, who attended the hearing, as did one of the plaintiffs, security officer Muhittin Zenit. Two of the case’s other plaintiffs, security officers Ali Fuat Yilmazer and Faruk Sari, were represented by their lawyer at the hearing. The lawyer of plaintiff Ramazan Akyurek did not attend the hearing.

“Since my code name was uncovered, I have become a target of terror organizations. The change of my code name will not amend the situation,” Zenit said at the hearing.

Public Prosecutor Celal Kara repeated his request on the case, demanding a 1-3 prison sentence for Sener on the count of “making targets of civil servants fighting terrorism.” He dropped the other charges since the “secret” documents in the book were no longer classified.

Sener’s lawyer Yucel Dosemeci said Zenit’s name and code name were mentioned in the indictment at the court dealing with the Hrant Dink assassination, and that Akyurek’s assignment was announced in the Official Gazette. “My client has not written on anything other than what is already known by the Istanbul court,” Dosemeci added.

He also said Sener had received the Abdi Ipekci Journalism Award as well as the Turkish Journalists’ Society Award for his book and was declared a hero by the International Press Institute. In his defense, Sener said he did not make targets of civil servants and that he did nothing but write about the documents seen by the court. “If there is any crime, it was committed by the plaintiffs and public prosecutors,” he said, arguing that the plaintiffs aimed to influence another case at the court through a penalty decision.