ALTUĞ TANER AKÇAM v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 7 investigations to continue in 37 statements made by a Turkish writer on the Armenian issue shortly after the assassination of the Turkish journalist of Armenian origin, Hrant Dink. Furthermore, there is legal uncertainty as regards cases which had been granted authorisation by the Minister of Justice under the former Article 159 of the Turkish Criminal Code”. 31. The applicant highlighted examples of post-amendment Article 301 cases with specific reference to the Armenian issue. He noted that in October 2008 the Ministry of Justice had authorised the continuance of the trial of Temel Demirer for stating that Hrant Dink had been killed not only for being an Armenian, but also for raising the issue of genocide. Another example was Ragıp Zarakolu’s conviction and sentencing on 17 June 2007 to five months’ imprisonment (subsequently commuted to a fine) under Article 301 for translating and publishing a book about the Armenian genocide entitled “The Truth Will Set Us Free”, written by George Jerjian. 32. Furthermore, according to the United States Department of State’s 2008 Human Rights Report on Turkey, the Minister of Justice himself (Ali Şahin) also made a statement that could be interpreted as instructions to the judiciary: “I will not let someone call my state ‘murderer’. This is not freedom of expression. This is exactly what the crime of insulting the person of the state is.” 33. The applicant also submitted a report published by the Media Monitoring Desk of the Independent Communications Network, for the period of July-August-September 2008. According to this report a total of 116 people, 77 of whom were journalists, were prosecuted in 73 freedom of expression cases. 5. Intimidation campaign against the applicant and the applicant’s response (a) Media accusations that the applicant was a traitor and a spy 34. In its editions of 10 and 29 October 2000, 5 November 2000 and 31 December 2000 the magazine Aydınlık published articles alleging that the applicant was a paid employee of the German intelligence service and that he had been commissioned to conduct research and write on the subjects “Violence in Turkish history”, “Torture in Turkish history” and “the Armenian Genocide”. These studies had been commissioned and financed by the German intelligence service and had been published in a book. 35. In its edition dated 4 January 2001 the daily newspaper Hürriyet published an article entitled “The German Intelligence Chief and Tessa Hoffmann couple” containing allegations that the applicant’s studies were determined and financed by the German intelligence service. 36. In its editions dated 21, 22 and 23 June 2007, the Hürriyet newspaper published articles describing the applicant as an individual who