TGC: Journalists Are Not Informants

Reporter Emin Bal from the Dogan News Agency (DHA) will be at the Beytüşşebap Criminal Court of First Instance on 17 January for not informing authorities of the "criminal" slogans which were shouted at the funeral of a PKK militant in Beytüşşebap in the southeastern province of Sirnak.

The court had decided that Bal's recordings should be confiscated, and on 8 October, the police went to the journalist's office and collected his material.

Article 278 of the Turkish Penal Code has been cited in the case. The article foresees imprisonment for up to a year when a person does not inform authorities of a crime.

TGC: Against Press Law and international conventions

The Turkish Journalists' Society (TGC) has criticised those who allowed for this kind of legislation when it was passed in June 2005. The argument of authorities was that the importance lay in how these laws were applied.

The TGC pointed to the Law on the Press which says that journalists cannot be forced to be witnesses, and to Article 26 of the Turkish Penal Code, which says that people using their rights cannot be punished. Furthermore, they said that the trial is a result of ignoring international agreements on the freedom of expression and the right to inform.

The Society also pointed out that the trial showed under what difficult conditions journalists in the local media worked.

Emin Bal had told bianet before, "I told the judge that I had fulfilled my duty and that I had done nothing wrong." (EÖ/NZ/AG)