Istanbul's Bagcilar district prosecutor's office has appealed against an April 11 court verdict dismissing a high-profile controversial case against four prominent Turkish columnists who were charged with attempting to influence the outcome of a trial though their writings by criticising a court order halting a September 2005 Istanbul conference on Ottoman Armenians.

The court decided then that according to article 26 of the Press Law, charges against the four were subject to statue of limitation due to the time lapse between the date of alleged offence and when a case was launched.

While it ruled to drop the charges against them, the court decided to continue the trial of Radikal newspaper columnist and writer Murat Belge as the only defendant in a new trial, concluding that the statue of limitation did not apply to his case.

This week, the Bagcilar prosecutor's office took the verdict for journalists Hasan Cemal of the daily Milliyet and Haluk Sahin, Erol Katircioglu and Ismet Berkan of the daily Radikal to the Court of Appeals asking it to be overruled.

Belge himself is to stand trial under a separate indictment on June 8.

The four defendants were charged in December under Article 288 of the Turkish Penal Code with "attempting to influence the outcome of a fair trial" through their writing. All except Berkan also faced prosecution under Article 301 for "publicly degrading the judiciary".

If the trial had not been dismissed and they were convicted, all of the defendants could have faced prison terms of six months to 10 years under the charges.

Belge Trial Details

Journalist Murat Belge's hearing at the Bagcilar 2nd Court of First Istance will be held on June 8, at 10.30 local time. Belge is being charged with violating articles 288 and 301/2 of the Turkish Penal Code.

He is geld responsible for a September 24, 2005 article titled "The murder of law" and the October 15, 2005 dated commentary titled "A Court Decision. " While the first article was subject to statue of limitations, the Bagcilar court had decided that he should stand trial for the second one. (EO/II/YE)