On February 13, 2017, the Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court accepted the indictment prepared against 29 defendants, most of whom were journalists.

Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court announced its decision at the hearing held on March 8, 2018, in the case where 26 media workers, 18 of whom were detained, were tried on charges of “FETO membership” and “coup attempt”.

He sentenced columnist and singer Atilla Taş to 3 years, 1 month and 15 days in prison for “knowingly aiding FETO” and journalist Murat Aksoy to 2 years and 1 month in prison. Media workers Ali Akkuş, Ahmet Memiş, Muhammet Sait Kuloğlu, Erkan Acar, Oğuz Usluer, Hüseyin Aydın, Ufuk Şanlı, Yetkin Yıldız, Cuma Ulus were sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization”; Cihan Acar, Bünyamin Köseli, İbrahim Balta, Bayram Kaya, Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu, Habip Güler, Hanım Büşra Erdal, Mutlu Çölgeçen, Ünal Tanık, Yakup Çetin, Seyit Kılıç, Hüseyin Aydın, Abdullah Kılıç and Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu were sentenced to 6 years and 3 months on the same charge. He was sentenced to imprisonment. Ali Akkuş, who was tried without detention, was arrested. All defendants were acquitted of the “coup” charge. The files of Said Sefa and Bülent Ceyhan, for whom there was an arrest warrant, were separated (March 8, 2018).

On October 22, 2018, the 2nd Criminal Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice rejected the journalists’ requests for appeal and ruled that the detained defendants continue to be detained.

In its decision dated March 16, 2020, the 16th Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals approved the verdict for 17 journalists and decided to overturn the sentence for 6 journalists for the crime of membership in an organization. Hanım Büşra Erdal, Cuma Ulus, Mutlu Çölgeçen, Bayram Kaya, Bünyamin Köseli, Abdullah Kılıç, Cihan Acar, Davut Aydın, Habip Güler, Halil İbrahim Balta, Hüseyin Aydın, Muhammet Sait Kuloğlu, Mustafa Erkan Acar, Oğuz Usluer, Seyid Kılıç, Murat It approved the prison sentences of 6 years and 3 months given to Aksoy and Ufuk Şanlı.

The prison sentences given to the defendants Ahmet Memiş, Cemal Azmi Kalyoncu, Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu, Ünal Tanık, Yakup Çetin and Yetkin Yıldız for “membership of a terrorist organization” were overturned on the grounds that further investigation was required. It overturned the prison sentence of 3 years, 1 month and 15 days given to singer Atilla Taş for ‘aiding a terrorist organisation’. He stated that Atilla Taş’s actions constituted the crime of ‘insulting the President and publicly humiliating the institutions and organs of the State’.

The 16th Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals decided to overturn the prison sentence of 7 years and 6 months given to Ali Akkuş, Editor-in-Chief of Zaman Newspaper, the publication organ of FETO, which was closed by decree. The chamber ruled that the fault provisions should be applied to Akkuş and no penalty should be imposed. Akkuş was released with the decision.

At the hearing held on March 31, the court decided that Atilla Taş’s request for separation of his file would be evaluated after the ECHR decision regarding him reached the file. The next hearing is on October 26 (March 31).

At the hearing held on October 26, the presiding judge stated that permission was awaited from the Ministry of Justice for Atilla Taş to be tried under TCK 301, and that his defense on this charge had not yet been received. The court lifted the judicial control measures of the defendants except Taş. The next hearing is on February 17 (October 26).

At the hearing held on February 17, the prosecutor requested that Taş’s lawyer’s request for the removal of judicial control be rejected due to the proportionality of the judicial control measure. Leaving the request for separation to the discretion of the court, the prosecutor requested that the missing issues in the file be eliminated. The court decided to separate Atilla Taş’s file, continue the ban on leaving the country, and complete the matters in the file. The next hearing is on June 22 (February 17).

2023

Istanbul 25th High Criminal Court continued the retrial of former columnist, singer and social media user Atilla Taş, who was sentenced to 3 years, 1 month and 15 days in prison on March 6, 2020, by the 16th Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals, on the grounds of “aiding an organization”. ; He convicted Taş again in his retrial. In line with the opinion submitted by the hearing prosecutor in June, the court sentenced him to 1 year, 9 months and 25 days in prison for “insulting a public official” and 5 months in prison for “publicly insulting the state’s military or police force” (October 24).