FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

Former chief editor of the Kurdish newspaper Ayadiya Welat Vedat Kurşun will be kept in detention at least until 2 December because of news and articles about the Kurdish question and the PKK organization. He had been arrested on 30 January 2009 at Atatürk Airport in Istanbul on the grounds of his refusal to testify in a court case before the Diyarbakır 6^th High Criminal Court. He was detained and transferred to the Diyarbakır D type prison later on. Kurşun was taken to the Diyarbakır court yesterday (10 September) for the first time since he has been arrested.

Özen: National press discusses articles from Ayadiya Welat

In yesterday's hearing at the Diyarbakır 6^th High Criminal Court Kurşun called for his release, emphasizing that he had been in kept detention for a long time and that he became a victim. The court decided not to release Kurşun but extended his detention instead.

Kurşun's lawyer Servet Özen talked to bianet after the hearing. He had declared in the hearing that the news in the paper were made within the context of freedom of the press, aiming to inform the people.

Özen explained: "The news and articles were published in the opinion that they did not carry elements of crime. The issue of discussing the democratic initiative is a topic currently being printed and discussed in the entire press regarding the topic of the PKK and Adullah Öcalan as interlocutors. So why do these publications account for a crime as far as my client's newspaper is concerned?"

Pointing out that some columnists in the national press even discuss the "interlocutor" issue, lawyer Özen underlined in the hearing that his client merely conveyed the events without making additions on his own behalf.

Detention extended to 10 months

The court decided to request files from other courts, which had been combined due to a previous decision. More than 20 trials have been filed against the journalist. According to the outcome of yesterday's hearing, Kurşun will be kept in detention until 2 December. Having been detained for more than 7 months already, imprisoned Kurşun will be in detention for a duration of more than 10 months.

Kurşun is under charge of "helping and concealing the PKK organization by campaigning for the PKK" and of "glorifying crimes and criminals" in the news published in numerous issues of the Kurdish daily newspaper. If the court should conclude that the propaganda was made in a systematic way, Kurşun can additionally be trialed under the accusation of "membership of an organization". (EÖ/VK)