Criminal punishment for critical journalism has chilling effect on free speech in Turkey, says OSCE media freedom representative
The prison sentence meted out to journalist Ahmet Altan for insulting Prime Minister Erdoğan in one of his articles will further restrict free speech in Turkey, Dunja Mijatović, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, said.
„Public figures are automatically in the focus of public attention, and this is especially the case with politicians fulfilling the highest official roles,” the Representative said.
„They must not only tolerate but protect the right of citizens to criticize them. This is the only way to ensure that pluralistic debates on all issues of public importance can thrive in the country.”
On 18 July, Ahmet Altan, former editor-in-chief of the newspaper Taraf, was sentenced to 11 months and 20 days in prison for insulting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in his article, „State Complicity and Morality”, published in January 2012. The court commuted the prison term into a fine of 7,000 Turkish Liras.
In the article, Altan had blamed the state for the death of 34 people in the December 2011 bombing that became known as the Uludere Massacre. The court ruled that Altan exceeded the limits of criticism and insulted the Prime Minister. The lawyer of the journalist argued that the article remained well within the borders of free expression, and announced that he would appeal the verdict.
„International standards call for a higher degree of tolerance by the authorities toward criticism and insult. Transparency of issues of public interest requires that critical views, even those that offend, are expressed freely,” Mijatović said.
She also said that she hoped that during the appeals procedure the court would take into consideration the right to free expression and the indispensable role that journalists play in informing the public.
Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
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