[JURIST] Prosecutors in Turkey [JURIST news archive] have dropped one of the two state slander charges against Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk [TIME profile], eliminating the allegation that he insulted Turkey's armed forces. Pamuk, whose work often examines the clashes between society and the role of Islam, is on trial for "public denigration of the Turkish identity" after he made supposedly-unfavorable remarks to a Swiss magazine about Turkey's stance on the mass killing of Armenians during WWI. Pamuk still faces the general charge that he insulted "Turkishness". Pamuk's trial was postponed last week after a dispute arose over whether he should be tried under Turkey's old penal code, or under the newly reformed civil and penal code [JURIST report]. Under the old code, individual rights and freedoms were greatly restricted to preserve the integrity of the state, an issue that has complicated the nation's pending entry into the European Union. BBC News has more.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase:

• Turkish Foreign Minister says state slander laws could be changed
• Turkish prosecutors may charge EU lawmaker with state slander
• Turkish freedom of expression trial adjourned until February
• Turkish Foreign Minister speaks out against state slander prosecutions