No Release in Zaman Trial
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The İstanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court has ruled continuation of detention of all defendants in Zaman trial, in which 31 media employees, including closed Zaman daily's former writers and employees Şahin Alpay, Ali Bulaç, Mümtazer Türköne, Ahmet T. Alkan, Nuriye Akman and Mustafa Ünal are standing trial.
The defendants are charged with “being involved in the coup attempt” and being a member of Fethullahist Terror Organization/Parallel State Organization (FETÖ/PDY)”.
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Who is standing trial: * Ahmet Metin Sekizkardeş, Ahmet Turan Alkan, Alaattin Güner, Ali Bulaç, Cuma Kaya, Faruk Akkan, Hakan Taşdelen, Hüseyin Belli, Hüseyin Turan, İbrahim Karayeğen, İsmail Küçük, Mehmet Özdemir, Murat Avcıoğlu, Mustafa Ünal, Mümtazer Türköne, Onur Kutlu, Sedat Yetişkin, Şahin Alpay, Şeref Yılmaz, Yüksel Durgut, Zafer Özsoy, Adil Gülçek and İhsan Duran Dağı are in detention on remand standing trial. * Ahmet İrem, Ali Hüseyinçelebi, Süleyman Sargın, Osman Nuri Arslan, Osman Nuri Öztürk, Lale Kemal (Lalezar Sarıibrahimoğlu), Nuriye Ural, Orhan Kemal Cengiz are standing trial without arrest. There is an order to take İhsan Duran Dağı forcibly to testify. Charges The defendants are being charged with "attempting to annihilate the constitutional order", "attempting to overthrow the Grand National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey or to deter it from carrying out its duties", "attempting to overthrow the Government of the Republic of Turkey or to deter it from carrying out its duties", "being a member of an armed terrorist organization". In accordance with the above mentioned charges, the defendants face three aggravated life imprisonments and 15 years in prison each. |
What happened?
Following the coup attempt on July 15, 2016, operations began against media organizations known to be affiliated with the Gülen Community and tens of journalists and media employees were taken into custody.
Osman Nuri Öztürk, Süleyman Sargın, Şeref Yılmaz, Ahmet Metin Sekizkardeş, Alaattin Güner, Faruk Akkan, Mümtazer Türköne, Şahin Alpay, Ahmet Turan Alkan, Lale Kemal, Ali Bulaç, Sedat Yetişkin, Murat Avcıoğlu, Yüksel Durgut, Zafer Özsoy, Cuma Kaya, Hakan Taşdelen, Osman Nuri Arslan and Nuriye Ural were taken into custody during the first wave of detentions on September 27, 2016. (EA/TK)