Changes to Press Law Acquit Journalist Kara

A Datca court acquitted Kara as a result of the amendments to the Press Law. He, the former owner of daiy Datca News , was standing trial for not delivering the local official two copies of the dailies. He had been jailed for the same reason before.

Erol Önderoğlu

Journalist Sinan Kara, who was jailed when he was the owner of the now-closed "Datca News" newspaper, for not "delivering the local official two copies of the newspaper," was acquitted the second time he stood trial for the same reason. His acquittal was a result of the amendments to the Press Law.

The ruling of a Datca court on September 7 was delivered to Kara on October 7.

The Datca court made a ruling on the case overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeals on July 1, 2004 on grounds of the amendments to the Press Law. The court acquitted Kara on grounds of the amendments to the Press Law, approved on June 26, 2004.

The court ruled that the current Press Law makes it a requirement to deliver newspapers to the state prosecutors, and not the local officials. It added that this regulation made the crime void.

Kara had been sued for "not delivering to the senior local official" the 14 copies of newspaper published between January 18 and December 26, 2000. (EO/BB/EA/YE)

Erol Önderoğlu

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İstanbul Üniversitesi Fransız Filolojisi Bölümü'nden mezun. 1996'da muhabiri olduğu uluslararası Sınır Tanımayan Gazeteciler (RSF) örgütünün Türkiye temsilcisi olarak çalışıyor. 1999'dan beri İPS İletişim Vakfı'nın projesi olan bianet sitesinde, Hukuki Destek Masası koordinatörü, ifade özgürlüğü editörü ve yayın yönetmeni olarak çalıştı. 4.800'den fazla imzalı haber ve makalesi bulunuyor. Bizim Gazete ve Güncel Hukuk dergisi için haber ve makaleler yazdı. Halen bianet'te Medya Gözlem Raporları'nı hazırlıyor.