A Turkish appeals court on Monday ordered the release of journalist Fatih Altaylı, who was sentenced last month to more than four years in prison for “threatening” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in comments he made in a YouTube broadcast, Turkish Minute reported.
The İstanbul Regional Court of Justice’s Second Criminal Chamber granted Altaylı’s request to be freed while the court reviews his appeal, Turkish media reported. The chamber cited the nature of the charge, the fact that evidence had been collected, the lack of a flight risk, the length of time he has been jailed and the sentence imposed by the trial court.
Altaylı had been held since June 22 at the Marmara Prison complex in Silivri on the western outskirts of İstanbul.
Altaylı, 63, was convicted on November 26 after prosecutors argued that remarks in a video posted on his YouTube channel amounted to a threat against Erdoğan. The İstanbul 26th High Criminal Court sentenced him to prison and ordered him kept behind bars pending appeal.
The case stemmed from a June broadcast in which Altaylı discussed a public opinion poll suggesting most Turks opposed the idea of Erdoğan staying in office for life. In that discussion Altaylı referenced Ottoman history, saying Turkish rulers had been removed or killed when they were no longer wanted, remarks that authorities and pro-government figures treated as threatening.
Presidential adviser Oktay Saral shared a clip from the broadcast on social media with a warning directed at Altaylı shortly before the journalist was detained and later arrested.
Rights groups and press freedom organizations had criticized Altaylı’s conviction and continued detention and called for him to be released while his appeal proceeds.
Altaylı also faces a separate criminal case opened this year over alleged “disseminating misleading information” in another YouTube broadcast.
