Court Rejects Expert Witness in Zarakolu Case
BÝA, Turkey
June 23 2006
Istanbul 2nd Court of First Instance asks for expert report for
Jerijan’s book while rejecting expert witness statement for Prof.
Sakayan’s book in two cases against publisher Zarakolu who faces 13
years 6 months imprisonment.
BIA News Center
24/06/2006 Erol ONDEROGLU
BÝA (Istanbul) – Belge Publications House owner Ragýp Zarakolu was
once again at court this week on trial for Turkish translations of
Prof. Dr. Dora Sakayan’s book "Garabed Hacheryan’s Izmir Journal: An
Armenian Doctor’s Experiences" and George Jerjian’s "The Truth Will
Set Us Free: Armenians and Turks Reconciled".
In two cases heard one after another at Istanbul’s 2nd Court of First
Instance on June 21, the prosecution demands a total of 13 years 6
months imprisonment for the publisher.
Zarakolu had invited Prof. Dr. Baskin Oran to Wednesday’s hearing as
an expert witness in the case against Prof. Sayan’s book but judge
Sevim Efendiler rejected the witness saying it she would read the
book herself in the 6th hearing of the case.
Despite this, in the second case against Zarakolu heard immediately
afterwards, the court was still waiting for an expert report from
Korkmaz Alemdar of Ankara Gazi University, Cafer Yenidogan of the
Galatasaray University and Prof. Dr. Emin Artuk of Marmara
University.
They were assigned to read and analyze Jerijan’s "The Truth Will Set
Us Free" during the April 19 hearing and to prepare a report for the
court.
Zarakolu faces 6 years imprisonment for the Turkish translation
publication of Sakaryan’s book on grounds that he violated the law by
publishing context that "degraded Turkisism" and "insulted and
ridiculed the Army". He faces up to 7.5 years imprisonment for
Jerjian’s book on charges of "insulting and ridiculing the State and
Republic" as well as "Insulting the memory of Ataturk".
In Wednesday’s two consecutive hearings both cases were adjourned to
October 5, 2006.
The Initiative Against Crime of Thought made a statement after this
week’s trials of Zarakolu reacting to the court rejecting an expert
witness in one case while waiting for its own experts report in
another, saying this was contradictory while also showing that the
court had not even read the books that it had on trial (EO/TK/II/YE)
–Boundary_(ID_6Il56yuvyXdb3gRJy7IX pw)–