Brussels, 09/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - Through some brief Twitter messages on Friday 6 May, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn criticised the prison sentences handed out by Turkey to two journalists, Can Dündar and Erdem Gil, from the opposition daily newspaper Cumhuriyet.
Dündar and Gil were sentenced to five years and ten months, and five years in prison respectively, for writing about arms trafficking organised by the Turkish secret service (MIT) to be used for the rebellion in Syria (see EUROPE 11478). The accusation of spying was not in the end upheld by the judges. For many observers, this judgment comes against a backdrop of increased repression carried out against the media by the Turkish authorities.
In response to the sentencing, Mogherini said that “media freedom and rule of law are not only relevant to the EU, but first and foremost to every country's own citizens”. Hahn stated that “media freedom and rule of law are key for Turkey to move closer to the EU”, and he also condemned “in the strongest terms” the shooting attack against Dündar outside the lawcourt. “Safety and full rights of defendants must be safeguarded”, he said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)