Turkey sentences journalists to life in jail over coup attempt
Source: The Guardian
A Turkish court has sentenced six defendants, including three prominent journalists, to life in prison over allegations of involvement in a 2016 coup attempt, drawing fierce condemnation from the UN and press freedom advocates.
The convictions followed a months-long trial during which the prosecution alleged that the journalists sent “subliminal messages” via TV appearances and newspaper columns urging the overthrow of the government, and that they maintained contact with members of the Fethullah Gülen network, a movement widely believed in Turkey to have orchestrated the coup attempt.
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The prominent journalists handed life sentences were the brothers Ahmet Altan and Mehmet Altan, who have been detained since 2016, and Nazlı Ilıcak. The conviction defies an order by Turkey’s highest court to release Mehmet Altan, after it found last month that his imprisonment had violated his constitutional rights.
“The court decision condemning journalists to aggravated life in prison for their work, without presenting substantial proof of their involvement in the coup attempt or ensuring a fair trial, critically threatens journalism and with it the remnants of freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey,” said David Kaye, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/16/turkey-sentences-six-journalists-life-imprisonment-failed-coup
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The sentencing came on the same day that another Turkish court ordered the release of Deniz Yucel, a German-Turkish journalist who spent just over a year in pre-trial detention without an indictment, in a case that tested relations between Ankara and Berlin.
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Ahmet Altan was charged after he said on a TV show: “Whatever the developments were that lead to military coups in Turkey, by making the same decisions, Erdogan is paving the same path”.
On the same program, Mehmet Altan referred to “another structure” within the government that was closely watching the developments to “take its hand out of the bag”.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-security-trial/turkish-court-sentences-six-journalists-to-life-drawing-international-criticism-idUSKCN1G01AN
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