"Turkey - 2006 Annual report
The country’s new criminal code, designed to help Turkey gain membership of the European Union, came into force on 1 June 2005 and imposes new restrictions on journalists. The vagueness of some parts of it allows judges to unfairly imprison them.
Journalists are still at the mercy of arbitrary court decisions that continue to send them to prison and fine them heavily. Sinan Kara, of the fortnightly Datça Haber, was jailed for nine months and fined €350 for “insulting in the media” (article 125 of the new criminal code) the sub-prefect of Datça. Burak Bekdil, a columnist with the English-language Turkish Daily News, was given a suspended 20-month prison sentence for “insulting state institutions.”"
More:Reporters sans frontières - Turkey - 2006 Annual report
