12 January 2018

Recognizing that the rights of imprisoned journalists Şahin Alpay and Mehmet Altan had been violated, the Constitutional Court (AYM) ruled their release. “I didn’t see the content of the decision but I hope it will pave the way for the release of all journalists. Freedom of expression can be maintained in Turkey”, lawyer Veysel Ok stated. Strong supporter of the Accession of Turkey to the European Union, Mehmet Hasan Altan (1953) is a Turkish academic and journalist, author of over 25 books. He was arrested during the first detention wave, following the July 2016 coup attempt. Alpay (1944) is a writer, journalist and political scientist. Back from Sweden (were he completed his PhD program) he worked for several newspaper - among them “Cumhuriyet”, “Sabah”, “Milliyet”, “Zaman” - and TV channel. He had been jailed pending trial in Zaman case.

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