ISTANBUL (Agos) — Nationalist Turkish Party Istanbul Chair Bilal Gökçeyurt and the chair of the Turan Organization Ercan Uçar have been acquitted in the case of the threat against Agos. Agos’ lawyer Hakan Bakircioglu objected to the ruling.
On April 24, 2015, a black wreath was put in front of the office of Agos newspaper and a declaration titled as “One night, we might come to visit you unexpectedly” was read. Agos newspaper filed a criminal complaint against this threat. The trial was held last week.
Nationalist Turkish Party Istanbul Chair Bilal Gökçeyurt and the chair of so-called Turan Organization Ercan Uçar have been acquitted on the ground that “there is no element of a crime.”
Editor-in-chief Yetvart Danzikyan attended the hearing on behalf of complainant Agos newspaper.
Speaking during the hearing, Danzikyan said: “They had put a black wreath, while the office was closed. We saw it in the morning. Then, we saw that they released a video about their action titled as ‘One night, we might come to visit you unexpectedly.’ We filed a criminal complaint. There had been similar actions when Hrant Dink was working in Agos. You know what happened to Hrant Dink. Thus, we considered this action as a threat.”
The suspects claimed that they exercised their right to democratic protest.
