Following the aggravated life sentences handed down to six defendants, including Nazlı Ilıcak, Ahmet Altan and Mehmet Altan, for “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order”, Gauri van Gulik, Europe Director for Amnesty International, said:
“This is a dark day for press freedom and for justice in Turkey and sets a chilling precedent for scores of other journalists facing trials on similar trumped-up terrorism charges.
“The cruelty of these politically motivated sentences – 30 years in jail with up to 23 hours per day in solitary confinement and no possibility of parole – is clearly intended to instil fear. Imposing such a sentence would not only flout freedom of expression, it would violate the prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment.
“News of these sentences drained the joy from celebrations for the release of another journalist, Deniz Yücel. He had been in prison for more than a year, without an indictment, much of it in solitary confinement.”