A Turkish prosecutor conducting the investigation into the assassination of Turkish- Armenian journalist Hrant Dink said on Monday that the murder was committed by Ergenekon’s cell in the Black Sea province of Trabzon.

Prosecutor Hikmet Usta announced his opinion as to who masterminded the assassination and as to the accusations directed at suspects during the 20th hearing of the 20-suspect Dink trial at the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court. The prosecutor said the murder was the work of Ergenekon’s Trabzon cell and demanded life imprisonment for seven suspects, including key suspects Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, on charges of attempting to destroy the constitutional order.

“The Dink assassination was the latest assassination of the deep structures. The suspects acted on ideological motives. The target was the Turkish Republic and public order. There is suspicion that the murder is linked to the Ergenekon network. We have reached the conclusion that the Dink murder was committed by the Trabzon cell of the Ergenekon terrorist organization,” Prosecutor Usta said.

Read More »Prosecutor says Ergenekon’s Trabzon cell committed Dink murder

Maestro TV journalists request police to return the video footage made at President Mikheil Saakashvili’s premises in Kvareli on September 25.

The crew of Maestro show ‘Without Accreditation’, including its author Shalva Ramishvili, was detained during filming, taken out of the territory and the video equipment was confiscated.  Later police returned the equipment, but without memory cards and a microphone.

As Ramishvili describes on his page at social network facebook, his crew and he entered the territory, purchased by the President from a private person just recently (there is a vineyard and a country house at the territory) without any problem, despite the fact that there were policemen at the territory.

“No one asked were I was going.  Everyone was running away from us; policemen were hiding in the vineyard.  I was asking them – “whose house is this?  But they did not answer,” Ramishvili recalls.  According to him President’s premises did not have any entrance gates.

Ramishvili claims that a little later Kvareli police chief, wearing civil clothing, came later and took them outside the territory.

Read More »Georgia: Maestro TV Crew Requests Return of Footage Made at President Owned Premises

Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul received on Sunday German journalists, who were detained in Iran on charges of espionage but who were released after his initiatives.

Gul’s first meeting in the German capital of Berlin, where he is paying a formal visit, was with Bild newspaper’s reporter Marcus Hellwig and photo journalist Jens Koch.

Hellwig and Koch thanked President Gul in Turkish, while Gul said German President Christian Wulff briefed him on the detention of the two journalists before his visit to Iran last February, and President Wulff also exerted efforts for the journalists.

During the meeting, Hellwig and Koch said they learned from radio when they were in a prison in Tabriz that Gul would visit Iran, and hoped that President Gul would save them.

German journalists Marcus Hellwig and Jens Koch were arrested in Iran when they wanted to interview with the family of Sakina Ashtiani, who was sentenced to death penalty on charges of adultery.

German President Christian Wulff briefed President Abdullah Gul on the issue before Gul’s visit to Iran last February, and asked for Gul’s support.

Two journalists were released some time after President Gul brought up the issue to Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad.

Read More »Turkish president receives freed German journalists

The Hrant Dink Foundation bestowed the Hrant Dink Award for the third time Thursday evening in Istanbul. The award — handed out every year on Dink’s birthday, Sept. 15 — is traditionally shared between two people: one, a citizen of Turkey; the other, a foreign national.

As noted on the official Hrant Dink Award website, the award is given to “people who work for a world free of discrimination, racism, and violence, take personal risks for their ideals, use the language of peace and by doing so, inspire and encourage others.”

This year, independent Istanbul-based newspaper Taraf editor-in-chief and lead columnist Ahmet Altan (pictured below) was the Turkish recipient of the award.

“It’s not with joy but with shame that I accept this award. Along with Turkey’s 70 million people, I was unable to prevent Hrant’s murder. With 70 million people, I was unable to discover the real perpetrator. Accepting this award with shame, I am going to keep it as a deposit — to return it one day to the person who uncovers Hrant’s iniquity,” said Altan in his address.

Read More »Hrant Dink Award goes to Ahmet Altan (Turkey) and Lydia Cacho Ribeiro (Mexico)

General director of Teleradio Aflatun Sharifov said that the new tower is expected to launch in 20 days. The main task now is installation of necessary technical facility for this object to ensure broadcasting of Azerbaijan TV channels in the north of Nagorno Karabakh, as well as lowlands of Karabakh (Agdam, Barda and other regions).

“This work will further be made digital which will in turn help avert intervention of Armenian TV channels into the broadcasting space of Azerbaijan”, Sharifov said, Trend reports. 

Source: News.az

Read More »Azerbaijan’s IT Ministry to spread TV broadcasting to Karabakh

Britain intends to allow TV cameras into courts in England and Wales so the public can judge the judicial system’s performance.

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said Tuesday he will propose legislation that initially allows broadcasts of judges’ rulings in the Court of Appeal, and then moves on to broadcasting sentences in the country’s lower courts. He did not set an effective date.

“We will work to ensure this does not hinder the administration of justice and that it protects victims, witnesses, offenders and jurors,” Clark promised, vowing to make sure the practice won’t allow offenders a chance to preen before the camera.

Source: Business Week

Read More »UK justice minister backs TV broadcasts of courts