Constitutional Court Rules There is No Violation of Rights in Arrest of Altan and Ilıcak

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Announcing its ruling on imprisoned journalists Nazlı Ilıcak and Ahmet Altan, who made an individual application to the Constitutional Court on the allegation that their rights were violated, the Constitutional Court has ruled that there is no violation of rights caused by their arrest.

The Court has concluded that the rights of journalist Ali Bulaç were violated.

Verdict of violation for two of seven journalists

The court also convened yesterday (May 2) and examined the individual applications of Akın Atalay, Murat Sabuncu, Ahmet Şık, Önder Çelik, Bülent Utku and Kadri Gürsel, who were arrested in 2016 when they were working for the daily Cumhuriyet, and Murat Aksoy, who was tried in the case known as "Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) Media Case."

The court discussed these applications three years later and after the people in question were released from prison and their cases were concluded.

Announcing its verdict for seven of the ten journalists, whose appeals were expected to be examined by the court yesterday, the Constitutional Court has concluded that only the rights of former Cumhuriyet columnist Kadri Gürsel and Murat Aksoy have been violated.

As for former Cumhuriyet Executive Board Chair Akın Atalay, former Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper Murat Sabuncu, its former reporter Ahmet Şık and Executive Board member Bülent Utku, the court has ruled that there is no violation of rights caused by their arrest. (EKN/SD)