PRESS FREEDOM

Journalist Hacı Boğatekin was convicted by the Kahta Criminal Court of First Instance in the south eastern province of Adıyaman to a 2 years 2 months and 7 days prison sentence because of "insult to public officials". The insult consisted of the journalist's alleged accusation of public officials, claiming that they tried to force his newspaper 'Gerger Fırat' out of business.

President Judge Ercan Kumhak decreed against mitigation and postponement of the punishment on the grounds that the journalist supposedly did not show any regret and attempted to prolong the trial.

Excuse not taken into account because of "lack of commitment"

Besides, Boğatekin had sent a letter to the court prior to the hearing, excusing his absence: "I will not be able to attend the hearing because of .a throat disease. The court should issue invitations to my lawyers Turgut Kazan, Fikret İlkiz and Celal Kızılkaya". The court did not take Boğatekin's letter of apology into account because it showed a "lack of commitment and did not specify who he was going to send".

After this, prosecutor Mesut Karaduman did not want to broaden his investigation any further and headed for the final speech of the prosecution. He demanded Boğatekin's conviction on the base of article 125/1-2-3 (a) of the Turkish Criminal Code.

Prison sentence handed down in defendant's absence

Hereupon, the court handed down the prison sentence to Boğatekin in his and his lawyers' absence in the hearing on 27 October 2009. The conviction includes a deprivation of the journalist's "parental right and depriving him of any duty such as warding or fostering" until he will be released from prison. Boğatekin was familiarized with the proceedings after he returned from Istanbul, where he had received medical treatment.

Journalist Boğatekin had previously been imprisoned for 109 days because of accusing Gerger prosecutor Sadullah Ovacıklı of alleged connections to Fethullah Gülen, self-imposed exiled leader of the correspondent religious movement. Journalist and official of the relating gergerim.com website Cumali Badur is still being tried in the same context.

The news item subject to Boğatekin's latest conviction was published on 28 February 2008 under the title "Judge Thwarts Complot". The journalist had stated that prosecutor Ovacılık, gendarmerie supervisor Hakan Ragıp Yüceer and several police officers were about to present the organization of an illegal complot against the newspaper to the Gerger District Administration. In secret meetings they allegedly planned to force the newspaper out of business, Boğatekin wrote. (EÖ/VK)