Turkey’s top court says rights of journalists not violated

Turkey’s Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled there was no violation in the cases of journalists Ahmet Şık, Murat Sabuncu, Bülent Utku and Akın Atalay, Turkish media reported on Thursday.

The court also ruled the rights to freedom and security of journalists Murat Aksoy and Kadri Gürsel were violated by a Turkish court during their prosecution.

Aksoy was first arrested in September 2016 along with 28 other journalists as part of a crackdown targeting alleged followers and sympathizers of the Gülen movement.

He was released pending trial in October 2017.

After conviction by an İstanbul court and a two year, one month sentence, Aksoy returned to prison to serve his remaining jail time after being free on appeal.

Gürsel was arrested in November 2016 with eight other Cumhuriyet daily journalists and was later released pending trial in September 2017.

Gürsel was sentenced in April 2018 to two-and-a-half years for supporting a terrorist organization.

Şık, Sabuncu, Utku and Atalay from the Cumhuriyet daily were also convicted on the same charges.

The top court will rule in the cases of veteran journalists Ahmet Altan, Nazlı Ilıcak and Ali Bulaç on Friday. (SCF with turkishminute.com)

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