Turkey drops charges against writer

[dianeduane]

Well, good.

A charge of insulting his country levelled against the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk was formally abandoned on Monday, ending an embarrassing chapter in Turkish criminal justice that has drawn sharp criticism abroad.

Mr Pamuk’s lawyer said the writer’s trial had been abandoned after a court decided that it could not hear the case after a political decision that it should not be pursued.

Others will doubtless discern the EU's pressure being brought to bear as regards this issue. Maybe so. In any case...the right result. Shame it took so long.

Comments

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Though sadly, the actual law is still there, and may be used in future against someone else not quite as celebrated.

The best outcome would be that the law has become unusable and is quietly retired. I hope that happens - a nation that cannot accept self-criticism from its own citizens has problems.