Defendants: Ahmet Altan

Media Outlet and Position: Taraf newspaper – Columnist, author

Status: Imprisoned

Facility: Silivri Prison, Istanbul

Accusations: Insulting a public officer

Possible sentence: –

Court: Anadolu 2. Criminal Court, Istanbul

Case background:

A case against Ahmet Altan, a prominent author and columnist of now-closed Taraf newspaper, over his article published in 2010 has been reopened. The journalist is being accused of “insulting a public officer” via his article. The first hearing took place on May 21, 2019. Altan attended the hearing from his cell via video-conference system SEGBIS.

Next hearing is scheduled for September 17.

Altan is currently imprisoned at Silivri Prison, sentenced to aggravated life sentence on alleged links to an outlawed group and accused of using their positions in the media to further the aims of the religious movement led by Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey’s government accuses of having established a “parallel state structure” and who the government blames for being behind the coup attempt.

Altan has several ongoing trials on various charges over his articles, including “insulting the President”.