Sevan Nisanyan being arrested for a similar charge years ago
Well known Istanbul-Armenian journalist, writer, and linguist Sevan Nişanyan was sentenced to two years in prison after being charged with “illegal construction.” He tweeted about this in his microblog Twitter.
The appellate court upheld the Selçuk district of İzmir Criminal Court ruling, which sentenced Nişanyan to two years in prison. The trial began nearly ten years ago and the verdict that was handed down 5 years ago, was affirmed only this week. Nişanyan was charged for illegally constructing a small dwelling on his property in the village of Iliastepe.
In an interview to CivilNet, Sevan Nişanyan said that he was not surprised by the decision. “And, to tell you the truth, I am not sad, because I was expecting a more severe verdict,” he said.
Earlier, Nişanyan had tweeted that as of next week, he would begin serving his two year prison sentence.
“After Balbay’s [Mustafa Balbay is a Turkish nationalist MP and journalist, who was sentenced to 34 years in prison during the Ergenekon case in 2009. He was recently released by a ruling of the Constitutional Court – CivilNet] release, it’s probable that there was some free space opened up for me. Long live the country,” Nişanyan tweeted ironically.
The Istanbul-Armenian journalist is known for his tough stance against the Turkish government and his sharp criticism towards Turkish nationalists and conservatives. In May, he was charged with insulting the Prophet Muhammad, which threatened a prison sentence of 1.5 years.
You can watch Nişanyan’s interview to CivilNet here.
