Hrant Dink's Appeal Saga of His Earlier Suspended Sentence

Sunday, Jun 11 2006 2:17 pm GMT+2
Turkish Daily News
WEEK IN REVIEW
Sunday, June 11, 2006

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Turkey's highest prosecutor's office on Tuesday said Agos daily Editor in Chief Hrant Dink had not committed any crime and should be found not guilty. The Supreme Court of Appeals Prosecutor's Office argued that a Supreme Court of Appeals Ninth Bureau decision to annul the suspension of an earlier six-month sentence given to Dink for insulting Turkishness was wrong because it had failed to analyze the article Dink wrote in its entirety, instead concentrating on a single sentence. The Şişli Second Criminal Court had found Dink guilty of insulting Turkishness, sentencing him to a suspended six-month jail sentence. The Supreme Court of Appeals Ninth Bureau had reversed the suspension, arguing there was no doubt Dink was guilty of committing the crime. The decision to suspend the sentence by the Şişli Second Criminal Court was appealed by Dink, who is seeking acquittal rather than suspension, and the complainants. The Ninth Bureau said there was no doubt Dink's statement, “The clean blood that will replace the poisoned blood of the Turk is present in the honored veins that will be established between the Armenian and Armenia,” insulted Turkishness. “It is impossible to justify belittling a society while praising another with the freedom of expression as defined by the European Convention on Human Rights,” the bureau said. Dink had argued that what he meant by the statement was that Armenians had the strength to overcome their destructive hatred of Turks. The prosecutor's office noted its objection to the bureau's decision, arguing that according to the Turkish Penal Code (TSK) all critical opinions voiced without insult would not require a jail sentence.
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