Charges against Istanbul-Based Armenian Newspaper Editor Not Dismissed

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Court of Appeal of Turkey on July 11 confirmed the verdict on the case of Istanbul-Based Agos Armenian newspaper editor Hrant Dink. He will not be imprisoned, however will be under the threat of deprivation of liberty for 5 years, as in case a new «crime» is committed, another half a year will be added to the old imprisonment term.



Past October ethnic Armenian citizen of Turkey Hrant Dink was sentenced to 6 months of conditional imprisonment for a newspaper article telling about massacre of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915. In February representatives of Office of the Prosecutor General considered Dink's case at the Court of Appeal and arrived at a conclusion that the article is not insulting. However, unexpectedly the court did not take this conclusion into consideration and decided that the accusation against Dink is grounded, reports BBC Russian Service.



In spite of a number of reforms in Turkey owing to talks on EU accession, there are articles in the legislation, which provide for punishment for insulting the Turkish nation, country's armed forces and judicial bodies, while the difference in definitions of criticism and insulting is often vague.