Turkey: Petition to free Turkish singer

14 Oct 10 | Index Index, minipost, News and features

More than 1000 people have signed petition calling on authorities to drop trial against singer and Ferhat Tunç, who is facing a prison sentence of up to 15 years after a speech he made at a cultural festival of Siirt.

The case against the defendant is being heard at the Diyarbakir 4^th High Criminal Court. During a 1 October hearing, his joint lawyers claimed that Tunç’s speech, who was this year’s winner of the Index on Censorship/Freemuse award for his propagation of freedom of speech and human rights, should be assessed within the boundaries of freedom of expression. The court postponed the case to 4 November in order to gather missing documents.