Özgür Gündem case: Prison sentence asked for 7 people

Prosecutor has asked for prison sentences against Özgür Gündem’s Co-executive Editor Hüseyin Aykol, Editor in Chief Reyhan Çapan and 5 others.

Co-executive Editors of the Özgür Gündem newspaper, shut down by a Statutory Decree (KHK), and the Editor in Chief Reyhan Çapan attended the 12th hearing of the case against them in the Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No.13.

The prosecutor argued that Lütfi Yavuzaslan, Methi Kaya, Islam Tuner, Hasan Basak, Kemal Yakut and Hüseyin Aykol “openly provoked criminal activity”, “praised a crime or criminals”, and “propaganda for a terrorist organization”. Çapan was accused of “open provocation to commit crimes” and the prosecutor asked for prison sentences for of them.

The court has given lawyers time to prepare their comments on the merits of the case. The next hearing is scheduled for November 21.