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Alert

Court acquits Baskaya, postpones trial of Zarakolu

(IPA/WiPC/IFEX) - The following is a 2 March 2005 joint IPA and International PEN press statement:

2 March trial of Ragip Zarakolu Postponed/Fikret Baskaya acquitted

International PEN, the IPA and other international NGOs, among them Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, visited Turkey to attend, as observers, the trial hearings of writer Fikret Baskaya and publisher Ragip Zarakolu, set for 2 March 2005. While Fikret Baskaya was acquitted in Ankara, Ragip Zarakolu's trial was postponed to 12 May 2005 on procedural grounds.

The postponement is typical of such trials where hearings take place over many months, and sometimes years, causing much inconvenience and financial cost to those involved. Even if the defendant is acquitted of the charge, the long, drawn out process can be seen as a form of harassment. The trial itself can serve to make others think twice before publishing views that may bring them before the courts.

While both organisations welcome the acquittal of Fikret Baskaya, they will continue to monitor the trials of Ragip Zarakolu and other writers, publishers and journalists similarly on trial for their publications. There are currently an estimated 60 writers, publishers and journalists under judicial process in Turkey for the practice of their right to freedom of expression. In this regard, the 2 March trial hearings of Fikret Baskaya and Ragip Zarakolu were just two out of many.

Lars Grahn, Chairman of the IPA Freedom to Publish Committee, declared: "Both Fikret Baskaya and Ragip Zarakolu have been subjected to a series of long, time-consuming and expensive court hearings. Whatever the outcome of these trials, this is in itself a form of harassment and punishment for daring to produce works which touch on issues that the authorities regard as sensitive."

Eugene Schoulgin, member of the Board of International PEN, added: "The way the authorities are treating Ragip Zarakolu is mocking him as well as themselves."

More about PEN and IPA:

IPA, established in Paris in 1896, represents the publishing industry worldwide through 78 national, regional and specialised publishers associations in 66 countries. International PEN was founded in 1921 in London. It is represented worldwide through 141 centres in 99 countries. Both NGOs enjoy consultative status to the UN and seek to promote and defend the fundamental freedoms to publish, to read and to write, defending the rights of authors and publishers to create and distribute intellectual works in complete freedom.