Ministry of Justice stopped the trials of Nurettin Demirtaş, former president of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), and Selma Irmak, former vice president of the same party, under article 301. Both individuals were on trial for voicing the allegations regarding the Uludere, Şırnak operation where 11 Kurdish Workers Party guerillas were killed. The court ruled that this was permitted by the freedom of expression.

Three of the five investigations targeting Erkan Çapraz, chief editor of the newspaper Yüksekova News of Hakkari in eastern Turkey, were dismissed as well. One of the investigations was for violating article 301.

The ministry did not demand trial for the allegation of “chemical weapon”

When the corpses of the PKK guerillas were not returned to their parents, Demirtaş and Irmak had claimed that this had supported the allegation of chemical weapons being used in the clashes.

According to Radikal, this ministry ruled that this argument, for which both individuals were on trial, was permitted by the freedom of expression.

Ministry: Shocking ideas are the natural outcome of multiple voices in a society

The ministry pointed out to the decision of the European Human Rights Court (EHRC) that as long as there was no encouragement of violence, the official policies of a government could be criticized and it reached the decision that the expressions that were part of the allegation were permitted by the freedom of expression; they were said with the intent to criticize. The decision also claimed that the freedom of expression was not only for those ideas and opinions liked by the society, but for those that were disturbing and shocking, too.

Erkan Çapraz was dismissed of his article 301 charge as well

The investigations against Çapraz were launched about the news reports at the internet site of the newspaper, which were  the articles titled “The real names of the Kurdish provinces”, “Dağlıca commander is removed from his office (voice recording)”,  “Images of Aktüt Raid”, “Dağlıca images”, and one of Erkan Çapraz’s article titled “Kurds and Newroz Fire”.

Çapraz does not accept the charges and hopes that the truth will come out. (EÖ/TK/TB)