Union Member Writes About Mines, Goes On Trial For 301

Kilis 2nd Court of First Instance sent Kıyasettin Aslan’s file to the Ministry of Justice in accordance with the revised article 301 of the Turkish Penal Law (TCK). The union member Aslan has been on trial for his article titled “Mayın” (Mine), which he wrote for the newspaper “Yerel Kent”.   

The court has been trying Aslan, who is the Kilis Provincial Representative for the Office Workers Union affiliated with the Confederation of Public Employees Trade Unions (KESK), for the crime of “openly denigrating the armed forces”, asking for the sentence of two years in prison. However, it stopped the process in the third hearing of the case yesterday.

“Every year children, women, people from all ages die because of the mines”

The union member, whose article was published in the newspaper “Yerel Kent”, had said that “Every year children, women, people from all ages die or get permanently incapacitated because of the mines Turkey planted.”

With the approval of the Ministry of Justice, the maximum sentence became two years

Despite objections from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Turkish Parliament (TBMM) passed the bill to revise Article 301 with 250 votes against 65 on April 29. The president Gül ratified the change on May 7. 

According to the new form of Article 301: 

“The person who denigrates openly the Turkish Nation, the State of the Turkish Republic or the Grand Assembly of Turkey and the judicial institutions of the State shall be punishable by imprisonment from 6 months to 2 years. The persons who denigrate the military and police organizations of the State will too receive the same punishment. 

Expressions of thought with the intention to critique shall not constitute a crime. 

The prosecution under this article will require the approval of the Ministry of Justice.” 

The investigations and the cases will be taken to the Criminal Court of Peace 

According to the new arrangement, the permission to open a case will be given by the Ministry of Justice. It is expected that as the revision goes into effect, the investigations that were opened since “they contained judgments to the advantage of the culprit” and the cases that were finalized will be taken up again. 

Since the punishment time was lowered from three years to two years, the new cases will be in the jurisdiction of the Criminal Court of Peace and the cases that are still open at the Criminal Court of First Instance will be transferred accordingly. (EÖ/EZÖ/TB)