ANKARA
Privacy is for protecting the rights of individuals against denigration, Turkey's justice minister said on Thursday.
A Turkish court on Tuesday imposed a media ban on the coverage of a parliamentary commission investigating four former Turkish ministers over graft allegations.
The Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag commented on the media ban on Thursday by saying: “This investigation is confidential. Turkish criminal law is competent in this matter. In addition, the Turkish Penal Code can hand out criminal sanctions for violations of the investigation's confidentiality.”
Ankara’s 7th Magistrate Court imposed on Tuesday a media ban on coverage of the parliamentary commission investigating former Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, former Interior Minister Muammer Guler, former Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis and former Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdogan Bayraktar.
“The investigation needs to be carried out by respecting the defendant's rights and protecting him against possible defamation,” the minister stressed.
According to the decision, media organizations are not allowed to broadcast the work of the parliamentary investigating commission until it is finished on Dec. 27.
Some media organizations and news website announced that they did not recognize the court decision and will publish details of the commission’s meetings.
In order to conduct a “healthy investigation,” the parliamentary investigation commission requested the imposition of the media ban on Nov. 21.
It said in its request that many news articles published until now had violated the confidentiality of the investigation, as well as harmed the principle of presumption of innocence.
The commission for this investigation was established in July this year.
The decision by Ankara’s 7th Magistrate Court to ban media coverage of the investigation can be appealed through Ankara’s 8th Magistrate Court.
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