http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=belgian-court-clears-spokesman-of-banned-group-2009-12-24
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Thursday, December 24, 2009
BRUSSELS - Agence France-Presse
A Belgian court dismissed terrorism charges against six Turkish
militants, clearing a spokesman of an outlawed group by saying his
actions were protected by freedom of expression laws.
The suspected members of the leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation
Party-Front, or DHKP-C, a group banned in both Turkey and Europe, were
on trial Wednesday at the Brussels appeal court in a case dating back
over a decade.
Three received suspended sentences for belonging to a criminal gang.
The terrorist charges were dismissed as the prevailing Belgian law
post-dates the offences. Three other co-defendants, meanwhile, were
completely acquitted.
One of those acquitted, Bahar Kimyongür, head of the group's
information bureau in Brussels, was accused of translating and
disseminating a statement from the group on an attack committed in
Turkey. The Belgian federal prosecutor argued that this proved his
membership of a terrorist group.
However, the Brussels Appeal Court decided that releasing a statement
whose political and ideological content is already known, cannot be
considered to be a terrorist act, even though the group is on the EU's
banned list.
Kimyongür was on trial along with five other DHKP-C members living in
Belgium and, according to the prosecutor, operating as an organized
crime gang with terrorist goals. They were accused of planning attacks
in Turkey from a rented apartment on Belgium's northern coast, where
police discovered arms and fake papers back in 1999.
The appeal court said Wednesday that sufficient proof of association
with wrongdoers had been gathered against only three of the
defendants, Musa Asoğlu, Kaya Saz and Fehriye Erdal. Erdal, whose
whereabouts are unknown, is wanted in Turkey for involvement in three
murders.
The 10-year case has been the subject of conflicting court judgments
and has also raised anger in Ankara.
Erdal managed to evade Belgian officials back in 2007 and has not been
captured
Actually that is or was true.I don't know if it still is I have to
doubt it is now,but you'r right,it was.There are other country's out
there as well that are doing and have been the same thing