Convicted, But Free, in Armenia

August 17, 2005
Inside Highered
By Doug Lederman

A Duke University doctoral student was freed Tuesday, after an Armenian court found him guilty of illegally trying to take books out of the country but suspended his two-year prison sentence.
[...]
In July, Armenian authorities charged [...] {Yektan Turkyilmaz} with violating an article in the Armenian Constitution that bars transportation out of the country of certain “raw materials or cultural values” without prior permission. Armenians customs regulations require travelers to declare books that are at least 50 years old, as 88 of Turkyilmaz’s books reportedly were.
[...]
In a trial that started last week and ended Tuesday, prosecutors argued that they had clearly proven that Turkyilmaz had violated the law, but cited “mitigating circumstances,” including his youthfulness and his “at least partly truthful” testimony in accepting a largely symbolic suspended sentence, according to the Web site Armenialiberty.org, part of Radio Free Europe. The news service said that the judge had ordered the confiscation of the 88 books, and that Turkyilmaz will remain in Armenia for two weeks until the verdict becomes official.
[...]
Orin Starn, a Duke professor of cultural anthropology who, as Turkyilmaz’s adviser, attended the trial, told Armenialiberty.org that “Duke University is very pleased that Yektan has been given his freedom. The books that Yektan collected were a reflection of his interest in Armenia. I know that Yektan will do wonderful work that will help us to understand the history of this region and the facts of the Armenian genocide.”

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.