İstanbul 26th Heavy Penal Court sentenced Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan, Nazlı Ilıcak, Fevzi Yazıcı, Yakup Şimşek and Şükrü Tuğrul Özşengül to aggravated life sentences on February 16, 2018 for “attempt to abolish the constitutional order through force and violence.” Murat Tibet Sanlıman was acquitted. The court decided that that there was no room for a decision on charges of “attempt to abolish the constitutional order through force and violence.” The İstanbul Regional Court of Justice, 2nd Penal Chamber (the court of appeal) upheld the decision of “aggravated life sentences” given to 6 people including Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak on October 2, 2018. The case will be taken to Supreme Court of Appeals.
Fevzi Yazıcı, the visual director of the Zaman newspaper, and the marketing director of the newspaper, Yakup Şimşek had been sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment and the Supreme Court issued an order for them to be tried for “membership in a terrorist organisation”. Yazıcı and Şimşek were sentenced to 11 years and 3 months of imprisonment for “membership in a terrorist organisation”. Samanyolu TV-programmer Şükrü Tuğrul Özşengül was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment (4 November).