Dink Verdict on Way to European Court
13/07/2006
BIA News Center
BİA (Ankara) - Armenian-Turkish bilingual weekly "Agos" newspaper Editor-in-Chief Hrant Dink’s lawyer Fethiye Cetin has said they will take his suspended 6 months prison sentence to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) following this week’s ratification of the verdict by the Turkish Court of Cassation.
Cetin said they would apply to the ECHR as soon as they received written notification of the Appeals Court’s decision that was taken despite objections of the prosecution, saying the verdict was “at the very least, sad for justice”.
“With regard to the interpretation of article 301, they could have created a precedent that would have been extremely just and in accordance with democracy. This would have been in the interest of Turkey. This opportunity was lost” Cetin said, evaluating the court’s conclusive decision that confirmed Dink’s sentence.
Dink was originally sentenced under article 301 by an Istanbul court to 6 months jail on October 7, 2005 where opinions expressed in his 2004 article series "The Armenian Identity" published in Agos were found to be "insulting and ridiculing Turkishness". Subject to the verdict were Dink's remarks "The poisoned blood that will spill from Turks will be replaced by noble blood of the Armenians who will create Armenia".
The same court later suspended the sentence justifying it with the convict's goodwill but the deferment was on condition that he did not commit a similar offence for a period of five years and if he did, would serve the previous sentence in full alongside any new sentence.
Following an appeal against the decision, the high court prosecutor demanded Dink's acquittal, but the demand which relied on the evaluation that Dink's controversial expressions were "allegorical" rather more than insulting "Turkishness" was turned down. (EO/II/YE)
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.
BIA News Center
BİA (Ankara) - Armenian-Turkish bilingual weekly "Agos" newspaper Editor-in-Chief Hrant Dink’s lawyer Fethiye Cetin has said they will take his suspended 6 months prison sentence to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) following this week’s ratification of the verdict by the Turkish Court of Cassation.
Cetin said they would apply to the ECHR as soon as they received written notification of the Appeals Court’s decision that was taken despite objections of the prosecution, saying the verdict was “at the very least, sad for justice”.
“With regard to the interpretation of article 301, they could have created a precedent that would have been extremely just and in accordance with democracy. This would have been in the interest of Turkey. This opportunity was lost” Cetin said, evaluating the court’s conclusive decision that confirmed Dink’s sentence.
Dink was originally sentenced under article 301 by an Istanbul court to 6 months jail on October 7, 2005 where opinions expressed in his 2004 article series "The Armenian Identity" published in Agos were found to be "insulting and ridiculing Turkishness". Subject to the verdict were Dink's remarks "The poisoned blood that will spill from Turks will be replaced by noble blood of the Armenians who will create Armenia".
The same court later suspended the sentence justifying it with the convict's goodwill but the deferment was on condition that he did not commit a similar offence for a period of five years and if he did, would serve the previous sentence in full alongside any new sentence.
Following an appeal against the decision, the high court prosecutor demanded Dink's acquittal, but the demand which relied on the evaluation that Dink's controversial expressions were "allegorical" rather more than insulting "Turkishness" was turned down. (EO/II/YE)
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.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 7:29 AM
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