Trial of 13 Writers and Journalists on Charges of “Attempting a Coup” Begins Today

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The trial begins today (August 16) for 13 people charged with "attempting to suspend the constitutional order" and "attempting to overthrow the Government of the Republic of Turkey". Each defendant is facing two aggravated life sentences.

In the hearing to be held before İstanbul 25th Heavy Criminal Court, Atilla Taş, Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu, Yakup Çetin, Bünyamin Köseli, Cihan Acar, Abdullah Kılıç, Oğuz Usluer, Hüseyin Aydın, Murat Aksoy, Mustafa Erkan, Seyit Kılıç, are Yetkin Yıldızare the defendants are in detention on remand while Ali Akkuş was not held in remand.

Charges

İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor İrfan Fidan is demanding two aggravated life sentences for the defendants on charges of "attempting to suspend the constitutional order" and "attempting to overthrow the Government of the Republic of Turkey".

In the indictment, is has been claimed that "the suspects have opened a bank account with Bank Asya [allegedly linked to the Gülen community], or have transferred a large amount of money to their accounts in this bank; some suspects are ByLock users [an encrypted communication software allegedly used among members of the Gülen community], and some have phone contact with high-ranking FETÖ authorities".

It has also been claimed that the 13 defendants took a stand against the operations against the Gülen community on December 17-25 and that they supported the organization.

What happened?

On August 30, 2016, İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's office issued a detention order for 35 people, including several academics and journalists, as part of the investigation against FETÖ following the coup attempt on July 15. 27 of the 35 detainees were later arrested. The journalists and writers were arrested on different days, and they had been waiting eight months for the trial to begin.

The state-run Anadolu News Agency reported on the detention order for the journalists and writers with the headline "Operation against the media organization of FETÖ".

The suspects of the trial are employers, owners and writers of Millet daily, Cihan News Agency, Zaman daily, Meydan daily, Yeni Hayat daily, Bugün daily and the Rota News and Samanyolu News websites.

There are 29 suspects standing trial, 26 of whom were arrested. A warrant has been issued to forcibly take two suspects to testify.
Said Sefa faces 22,5 and the other 28 suspects face 15 years in prison each.

The names of those who stood trial are as follows:

Abdullah Kılıç, Ahmet Memiş, Ali Akkuş, Atilla Taş, Bayram Kaya, Bülent Ceyhan, Bünyemin Köseli, Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu, Cihan Acar, Cuma Ulus, Davut Aydın, Emre Soncan, Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu, Habip Güler, Halil İbrahim Balta, Hanım Büşra Erdal, Hüseyin Aydın, Muhammet Sait Kuloğlu, Muhterem Tanık, Murat Aksoy, Mustafa Erkan Acar, Mutlu Çölgeçen, Oğuz Usluer, Said Sefa, Seyid Kılıç, Ufuk Şanlı, Ünal Tanık, Yakup Çetin, Yetkin Yıldız.

In the hearing held on March 31 under the Presidency of İbrahim Loğasdağı, the Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court, ordered that Abdullah Kılıç, Ahmet Memiş, Ali Akkuş, Atilla Taş, Bayram Kaya, Bünyemin Köseli, Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu, Cihan Acar, Cuma Ulus, Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu, Habip Güler, Halil İbrahim Balta, Hanım Büşra Erdal, Hüseyin Aydın, Muhammet Sait Kuloğlu, Murat Aksoy, Mustafa Erkan Acar, Oğuz Usluer, Seyid Kılıç, Yakup Çetin, and Yetkin Yıldız be released.

On April 3, 2017 the board of judges of Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court ordered the release of the 21 defendants, and the prosecutor of the case was suspended by the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK)

İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office started a new investigation of Atilla Taş, Ali Akkuş, Hüseyin Aydın, Murat Aksoy, Mustafa Erkan Acar, Seyid Kılıç and Yetkin Yıldız on suspicisions of a link to the coup attempt on July 15.

As a part of this new investigation, a detention order was issued for seven people on charges of "attempting to suspend the constitutional order" and "attempting to overthrow the Government of the Republic of Turkey". The reason for the detention order has been declared to be "the evidence against the suspects, the nature of the crime and suspicion of an attempt to escape".

As a part of the same investigation, a detention order was also issued for Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu, Yakup Çetin, Bünyamin Köseli, Cihan Acar, Abdullah Kılıç and Oğuz Usluer.

As a result, 12 of the 21 defendants who had been released, were arrested again as a part of the new investigation. Ali Akkuş was released on probation.

On April 4, İstanbul 25th Heavy Penal Court judges who ordered release in the trial of 21 journalists concerning had been relieved of duty.

On June 7, İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor İrfan Fidan demanded two aggravated life sentences for the defendants on charges of "attempting to suspend the constitutional order" and "attempting to overthrow the Government of the Republic of Turkey". (EA/DG)