ARRESTED JOURNALISTS
Court Decides to Release Journalist after Six Years of Arrest
The 10th High Criminal Court in Istanbul's Çağlayan district Thursday ruled to release Sedat Şenoğlu, the executive coordinator of Atılım newspaper who remained under arrest for six years in connection with terrorism related charges.
A total of 26 suspects, 11 of them arrested pending trial, including Füsun Erdoğan, the former chief coordinator of Özgür Radio, and Bayram Namaz, a columnist in Atılım, are currently standing trial in the case.
The chief justice decided to release Şenoğlu in consideration of the quality of the "crimes" attributed to him, the probability of a change in the classification of the offense and the number of years he has already spent behind bars.
The court delegation also issued an arrest warrant for İbrahim Çiçek who failed to comply with probation orders, while they also ruled to continue the arrests of the remaining 10 suspects who have already served six years in jail.
The suspects are on trial in connection with operation "Gaye" that was conducted across a number of provinces across Turkey in Sept. 2006. They are charged with being members of the Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLKP.)
The next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 13, 2012. (NV)