18 Months in Prison for Özgür Gündem Defendant Çelikkan, 15 Months for Üstün

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Summary judgement of human rights defender Murat Çelikkan and Professor Beyza Üstün, who had participated in the Özgür Gündem Editors-in-Chief on Watch campaign, was heard today (May 16).

Both figures were charged with “terror organization propaganda”.

Çelikkan was sentenced to 18 months in prison in the hearing held at the İstanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court through Anti-Terror Law Article 7/2.

Çelikkan’s sentence wasn’t reduced nor deferred as “The defendant didn’t show sufficient remorse with his attitudes in the trial”.

The same court sentenced Üstün to 15 months in prison and deferred her sentence.

Özgür Gündem trials

Closed Özgür Gündem newspaper's Editor-in-Chief on Watch campaign was launched on May 3, 2016 and ended on August 7, 2016.
56 people joined the campaign.

50 of the attendees faced prosecution. Of the prosecuted, files of the 38 have been turned into cases.

50 investigations launched

Investigations were launched into:

Faruk Eren, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Ayşe Düzkan, Erol Önderoğlu, Celalettin Can, Mustafa Sönmez, Melda Onur, Fehim Işık, Celal Başlangıç, Eşber Yağmurdereli, Ragıp Duran, Nurcan Baysal, Ömer Ağın, Ahmet Abakay, İhsan Çaralan, Işın Eliçin, Murat Çelikkan, Uğur Karataş, Öncü Akgül, Ayşe Batumlu, Sebahat Tuncel, Saruhan Oluç, Nadire Mater, Beyza Üstün, Mehmet Güç, Tuğrul Eryılmaz, Faruk Balıkçı, Şeyhmus Diken, Necmiye Alpay, Jülide Kural, Yıldırım Türker, Ahmet Nesin, Kemal Can, Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Hasip Kaplan, Nevin Erdemir, Tuğrul Eryılmaz, Hakkı Boltan, Cengiz Baysoy, Kumru Başer, Veysi Altay, Hasan Hayri Şanlı, Hasan Cemal, Deniz Türkali, Dicle Anter, Çilem Küçükkeleş, Said Sefaoğlu, Aydın Engin, İhsan Eliaçık and İmam Canpolat.

38 cases

The 38 people who are facing prosecution are as follows:

A. Kumru Başer, Ahmet Nesin, Ayşe Batumlu, Ayşe Düzkan, Beyza Üstün, Can Dündar, Celal Başlangıç, Celalettin Can, Cengiz Baysoy, Çilem Küçükkkeleş, Derya Okatan, Dicle Anter, Erol Önderoğlu, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Faruk Balıkçı, Faruk Eren, Fehim Işık, Hüseyin Tahmaz, Hakkı Boltan, Hasan Cemal, Hasan Hayri Şanlı, İbrahim Bodur, İhsan Çaralan, Julide Kural, M. Ali Çelebi, Murat Çelikkan, Murat Uyurkulak, Nadire Mater, Necmiye Alpay, Nevin Erdemir, Öncü Akgül, Ragıp Duran, Said Sefa, Şanar Yurdatapan, Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Tuğrul Eryılmaz, Veysi Altay, Yıldırım Türker.

Cases brought against 3 writers

Legal action was taken against Ömer Ağın for an article published under the editorship of Celal Başlangıç, against İmam Canpolat for an article published under the editorship of Cengiz Baysoy and against İlham Bakır for an article published under the editorship of Jülide Kural.
Of the 36 Editors-in-Chief on Watch, Erol Önderoğlu, Ahmet Nesin and Şebnem Korur Fincancı were arrested in June 2016 and released 10 days after it.

15,750 Euros as well as 187 months and 15 days in prison

Şanar Yurdatapan, İbrahim Bodur, Cengiz Baysoy, İmam Canpolat, Çilem Küçükkeleş, Nadire Mater, Yıldırım Türker, Hasan Cemal, Faruk Balıkçı, Dicle Anter, Derya Okatan, Kumru Başer, Ayşe Batumlu,Jülide Kural, İlham Bakır and Murat Uyurkulak have been convicted.
The above mentioned 16 people have been convicted to 15,750 Euros as well as 187 months and 15 days in prison.

Kızılkaya cases

Özgür Gündem Managing Editor İnan Kızılkaya is a suspect in all 38 cases. Kızılkaya's case is being combined with the main trial.
Özgür Gündem main trial

Özgür Gündem Consultant Board members, executives and writers Necmiye Alpay, Aslı Erdoğan, Ragıp Zarakolu, Filiz Koçali, Eren Keskin, Zana Kaya, İnan Kızılkaya, Kemal Sancılı and Bilge Oykut stand trial as a part of the main trial of Özgür Gündem daily. Kızılkaya and Sancıl are still arrested. (EA/TK)