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STRASBOURG, Sept 27 (AFP) - 20h15 - The European
Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday ordered
Turkey to pay damages to a Turkish journalist for
repressing her freedom of speech in a case where she
was accused of writing Kurdish separatist
propaganda.
Asli Gunes was the editor of a political publication
called Hedef (target in Turkish) when she co-wrote
an article in March 1992 in which she criticized the
Turkish military operations against Kurdish
separatists.
Gunes was sentenced in December 1995 to 16 months in
prison. A Turkish court later suspended the sentence
and in 2003 annulled her conviction at the
expiration of a three-year period of suspension.
To convict Ankara of violating the European
convention on human rights, the judges in Strasbourg
had to determine that the incriminating article was
not written to incite hatred, which in their eyes
was "the essential element to take into
consideration."
They also said that the suspended sentence had in
effect "limited greatly" Gunes's ability to publish
critiques over the three-year period.
The European judges also found that the length of
the legal process, nearly seven years, was
excessive.
The authorities in Ankara were ordered to pay Gunes
damages of 8,500 euros (10,200 dollars).
AFP
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