Turkey: journalist Ahmet Altan, imprisoned since 2016, finally free
Turkish journalist and writer Ahmet Altan poses at his home a few minutes after his release from prison in Istanbul on April 14, 2021. AFP - BULENT KILIC
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In Turkey, Ahmet Altan is free.
Following a decision by the Court of Cassation, this renowned journalist and writer left Istanbul prison where he had been imprisoned since 2016 on Wednesday evening for alleged links to the failed coup of the same year.
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All smiles, but in shock, Ahmet Altan has found his children and his home, reports our correspondent in Istanbul,
Anne Andlauer
.
“
I don't know how I feel, it all happened so quickly… I don't even know exactly why I got out,
” said the journalist, who will therefore have spent more than four and a half years in prison.
The detention of the founder of the opposition newspaper
Taraf
had become a symbol of attacks on freedom of expression in Turkey.
Arrested in September 2016, Ahmet Altan was first sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2018 for “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order”, a verdict overturned by the Court of Cassation.
But in 2019, a court sentenced him to 10 years in prison, while ordering his release under judicial supervision.
Barely eight days later,
he was imprisoned
for "complicity with a terrorist group", the justice accusing him of having "helped" the movement of the preacher
Fethullah Gülen
, suspect number 1 of the coup attempt of July 2016. Du deep in his cell, the journalist publishes the story of his daily life and becomes famous abroad.
Once again, the Court of Cassation overturned the verdict, at the same time ordering the release of the 71-year-old journalist.
Emphasizing the length of his imprisonment, the Court ruled that he had not benefited from the reduced sentences provided for by the Turkish penal code.
The decision in his favor of the European Court of Human Rights will undoubtedly have also played a role.
The day before, the ECHR had indeed severely condemned Ankara for the prolonged imprisonment of Ahmet Altan, judging in particular that it was not based on any tangible evidence.
Political resistance is a family affair among the Altans.
His father, a leftist politician, had been arrested 45 years earlier.
His brother, Mehmet, had also been imprisoned for two years in connection with the same coup attempt.
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See also: The European Court of Human Rights condemns Turkey for the detention of Ahmet Altan
Ahmet Altan'ı biraz evvel karşıladım ...
Özgürlüğe ilk adım ... pic.twitter.com/QnF6Sp1WgE
- Figen AlbugaÇALIKUŞU (@FigenCalikusu) April 14, 2021
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