An İstanbul court gave its verdict about 20 Turkish journalists and media employees in a trial known as Feza Gazetecilik and Cihan Media Distribution Co. case during the 4th hearing on Monday.
Following the 4t hearing of the trial, İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court, which is in the campus of the notorious Silivri Prison, ruled to sentence Cihan news agency executives Hakan Taşdelen, Ahmet Metin Sekizkardeş and Faruk Akkan, general director of Cihan news agency, 9 years in prison and continuation of their imprisonment.
The court has also given 7 years and 6 months to Cihan news agency employees Osman Nuri Arslan, Ahmet İrem and Yüksel Durgut in prison and decided for continuation of their judicial probe.
The same court sentenced Cuma Kaya, Alaattin Güner, Hüseyin Turan to 4 years in prison and Murat Avcıoğlu to 3 years, 1 month and 15 days in prison and decided to release them.
The İstanbul court has also decided for acquittal of Zafer Özsoy, Hüseyin Belli, Onur Kutlu, İsmail Küçük and Ali Hüseyin Çelebi from the charge of being a member of a terror organisation and ruled for releasing all of them from prison.
The court has also ruled to separate the files of Şeref Yılmaz, Osman Nuri Öztürk and Süleyman Sargın, the general director of Irmak TV, from the case while it ruled for acquittal of all other defendants from the charge of involvement into a coup attempt.
The trial of the case about Zaman daily employees and columnists Ali Bulaç, İbrahim Karayeğen, Mümtazer Türköne, Şahin Alpay, Mehmet Özdemir, Mustafa Ünal, Ahmet Turan Alkan, Nuriye Ural, İhsan Duran Dağı, Lalezar Sarıibrahimoğlu and Orhan Kemal Cengiz is going to be held on May 10 in İstanbul Çağlayan Courthouse.
An İstanbul prosecutor had demanded aggravated life sentences for nine journalists in a trial of employees of the former Zaman daily, which was closed by the government for its alleged affiliation with the Gülen movement.
There are 31 defendants in the indictment, 17 of whom are jailed. Mümtaz’er Türköne, Ali Bulaç, Ahmet Metin Sekizkardeş, Ahmet Turan Alkan, Alaattin Güner, Cuma Kaya, Faruk Akkan, Hakan Taşdelen, Hüseyin Turan, İbrahim Karayeğen, Mehmet Özdemir, Murat Avcıoğlu, Mustafa Ünal, Sedat Yetişkin, Şeref Yılmaz, Yüksel Durgut and Zafer Özsoy have been in pretrial detention for almost 19 months.
Eight defendants who were earlier released are Şahin Alpay, İhsan Dağı, Orhan Kemal Cengiz, Nuriye Akman, Lale Kemal, Onur Kutlu, İsmail Küçük and Hüseyin Belli. The remaining journalists are being tried in absentia.
Feza Gazetecilik owned the then-best selling Zaman daily, which was seized by the Turkish government on March 4, 2016 and closed down in the aftermath of a controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
According to the prosecutor’s legal opinion, the nine prominent journalists, including Mümtaz’er Türköne, Ali Bulaç and Şahin Alpay, “violated the constitution.” In addition, the prosecutor demanded up to 15 years for each of the nine on charges of “membership in an armed organization.”
Other defendants for whom the same sentence was demanded are İbrahim Karayeğen, Mehmet Özdemir, Mustafa Ünal, Ahmet Turan Alkan, İhsan Duran Dağı and Orhan Kemal Cengiz.
For the 20 other defendants, who were tried on Monday, the prosecutor demanded jail sentences of between seven and 15 years at the most recent hearing. Those charges included “membership in an armed organization” and “aiding the organization without being a member of it.”
The court is expected to announce its decision for columnists and journalists on May 11.
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