Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court convicted the defendants Hakan Taşdelen, Cihan Media deputy chairman Ahmet Metin Sekizkardeş and Cihan News Agency’s general manager Faruk Akkan for being a member of a terrorist organization, in April 2018. The court sentenced Osman Nuri Arslan, Ahmet İrem and Yüksel Durgut to 7 years and 6 months each.
Murat Avcıoğlu was sentenced to 3 years and 1 month and 15 days of imprisonment on charges of aiding a terrorist organization without being its member. The defendants Zafer Özsoy, Hüseyin Belli, Onur Kutlu, İsmail Küçük and Ali Hüseyin Çelebi were acquitted. Ozsoy who was acquitted was also released.
The files of defendants Osman Nuri Öztürk, Şeref Yılmaz and Süleyman Sargın were separated from the case file. The Court acquitted all defendants on the charges of “attempting to abolish the constitutional order”, “attempting to eliminate the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the Government of the Republic of Turkey “.