European Court of Human Rights condemns Turkey for detention of Ahmet Altan
A journalist holds a portrait of her colleague Ahmet Altan to call for his release in court in Istanbul on June 19, 2017. OZAN KOSE / AFP
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The famous Turkish journalist and writer Ahmet Altan was arrested for the first time in September 2016 and sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2018 for "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order", a judgment subsequently quashed.
He was sentenced in November 2019 to 10 and a half years in prison for "complicity with a terrorist group".
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Regarding the conviction and detention of Ahmet Altan, the European magistrates who sit at the ECHR in Strasbourg say, in their judgment delivered on Tuesday, April 13, that "
nothing shows that the applicant's actions were part of a plan intended to overthrow the Turkish government
”.
They also find the violation of the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights on freedom of expression, the "
right to liberty and security
" and the "
right to have a court rule promptly on the issue. legality of detention
”.
Accused of being close to Fethullah Gülen
Turkish justice accuses Ahmet Altan of being part of the movement of the Islamic preacher, Fethullah Gülen, and of being involved in the attempted coup of July 2016, which Mr. Gülen denies otherwise.
Ahmet Altan is a respected intellectual in Turkey.
He has always rejected accusations according to him "grotesque".
It must be said that among the accusations, there was that of "subliminal messages" that he would have transmitted during a program broadcast live on a pro-Gülen channel on the eve of the failed putsch, an element which then disappeared. of the indictment.
Founder of the
Taraf
newspaper
Ahmet Altan founded the opposition newspaper
Taraf
and notably made himself known through the story of his life in prison,
I will never see the world again
, published in France by Actes Sud.
In a separate judgment, the ECHR also condemned Ankara for the detention of Murat Aksoy, an opposition journalist who was detained a few weeks after the attempted coup in July 2016.
(
with AFP
)
►
See also: Turkey: journalist Ahmet Altan arrested again
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