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Rehn: `High Court Decison Disappointing´

EU Commissioner Olli Rehn criticizes Court of Cassation decision against Armenian journalist Hýrant Dink, editor of weekly Agos, based in Istanbul. High Court confirmed prison sentence for “insulting Turkishness”.

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BIA News Center

12/07/2006

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BÝA (Ankara) – European Commission (EU) Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn in a public statement on Wednesday expresses “disappointment” for the confirmation by the Turkish Court of Cassation of the prison sentence given to Mr Hrant Dink.

“This judgement is the first final judgement by the highest jurisdiction in Turkey about the interpretation of article 301. In this sense, it establishes a binding case law that will set the trend for lower jurisdiction to follow when applying article 301 in the future,” Rehn observed

“It also shows that in the current situation, courts have not succeeded in establishing a positive case law when interpreting the provisions of the new Penal Code in line with the relevant EU standards.” he told.

This is all the more serious since there are still a number of similar court cases pending.

Rehn urged “Turkish authorities amend article 301 and other vaguely formulated articles in order to guarantee freedom of expression in Turkey.”

The Court of Cassation decided to confirm the prison sentence for Mr Hrant Dink, editor in chief of Istanbul based bilingual, Turkish-Armenian weekly, on the grounds that he insulted “Turkishness” on the basis of article 301 of the new Penal Code.

Dink was sentenced to six months at the local court, and the court later suspended the sentence justifying it with the convict’s goodwill. The high court prosecutor however demanded Dink’s acquittal, but the high court turned down the demand which relied on the evaluation that Dink’s controversial expressions were “allegorical” rather more than insulting “Turkishness”. (EK/YE)

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