Court of Cassation asks for reversal of life terms for journalists Ilıcak, Altan brothers

ANKARA

A Court of Cassation prosecutor has demanded the reversal of aggravated life sentences handed down to six suspects, including journalists Nazlı Ilıcak, Ahmet Altan and Mehmet Altan, jailed on terrorism charges and for FETÖ links.

Nazlı Ilıcak, Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan, Fevzi Yazıcı, Yakup Şimşek and Şükrü Tuğrul Özşengül were convicted for attempting to overthrow the constitutional order in October last year. They had appealed to the Court of Cassation for their release, but the Istanbul Second Court of Appeals upheld their sentence.

All suspects are accused of being linked to FETÖ, the group which is widely believed to have orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 that killed 250 people and injured nearly 2,200 others.

The prosecutor’s office, in its reversal demand, said that Ilıcak, the Altan brothers and other suspects should stand trial on charges of “helping FETÖ prepensely,” and not on charges of “attempting to demolish constitutional order.”

In late June last year, columnist and academic Mehmet Altan was released under judicial control upon his appeal to the penal department of Istanbul’s regional court of justice.

Ankara accuses FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.