Three journalists, including Füsun Erdoğan, released over duration of detention

ISTANBUL

Füsun Erdoğan (in the picture), Bayram Namaz and Arif Çelebi were jailed for 7 years and 8 months pending trial.

Three journalists, including Füsun Erdoğan, the former general coordinator of Özgür Radyo, were released May 8 in the case into the illegal Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP).

Erdoğan, along with two other journalists, Bayram Namaz and Arif Çelebi, had been sentenced to a total of 789 years in prison for 155 alleged crimes by a specially authorized court in Turkey.

The Istanbul 20th High Criminal Court ruled for the release of eight suspects, including the three journalists, on the grounds that their pre-trial detention exceeded the legal limit set by new legislation that reduced the limit from 10 to five years. An appeal process is still ongoing regarding the case.

Erdoğan and the other suspects were imprisoned for nearly eight years pending the conclusion of the lengthy trial process.

Her case had recently come under the spotlight after a letter was sent by Turkey’s EU Ministry to Swedish MPs accusing her of “injuring with firearms and damaging buildings with explosives.”  

“The effort of the government to find materials for the detentions exceeds even the indictments of the prosecutors,” Erdoğan had said, demanding that the claims be supported by evidence in the indictment against her.