Court of Appeals Upholds Verdict on Cumhuriyet Case, Journalists Say 'Goodbye'

*In a protest at the İstanbul Courthouse, a journalist shows Cumhuriyet newspaper, which says, "We want justice" in its title.

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The İstanbul Regional Court of Justice, 3rd Penal Chamber (the court of appeal) has upheld the verdict on the Cumhuriyet newspaper' case.

This is the final judgment* for those who were sentenced to prison for less than five years: Kadri Gürsel, Güray Öz, Musa Kart, Mustafa Kemal Güngör, Emre İper, Önder Çelik, Bülent Utku, Hakan Kara.

*Criminal Procedure Code Article 286/2-a: Decisions of Regional Court of Appeal on Facts and Law that are related to the rejecting the merits of the application of appeal on facts and law against the imprisonment penalties up to five years or less and decisions denying the merits of appeals on facts and law against any kind of judicial fines, rendered by the courts of first instance.

Verdicts open to appeal

The court said the following in its verdict dated February 18:

"Because it has been understood that there is not a violation of law in the court's verdict regarding basis and procedures, there is not a deficiency in evidence and operations, evaluation is proper in terms of proving, the acts described in the right way and suits the crime types that are stated in the law, sentences are applied in a legal context, the reasons that were put forward by the defendants and the defenders are not considered proper."

The court stated that the prison sentences for defendants Ahmet Kemal Aydoğdu, Akın Atalay, Aydın Engin, Hikmet Aslan Çetinkaya, Mehmet Murat Sabuncu, Mehmet Orhan Erinç, Ahmet Şık for "knowingly and willingly helping a terrorist organization" and acquittals from this charge for Bülent Yener, Günseli Özaltay, Turhan Günay are open to appeal.

"Goodbye"

Some of the defendants took to social media to comment on the Court of Appeal's verdict.

Cartoonist Musa Kart said in a tweet, "Statement came from the government which is expected to find solutions for the current crises: Put the cartoonist in jail again! Yes, time for me to get going. Take care of yourselves..."

Columnist Güray Öz said, "The court of appeals upheld the verdict for Cumhuriyet's writers and executives. You know, I am among them. Fortunately, I have done the last proofreading for my novel. We will not be able to meet for a while. Goodbye..."

Ahmet Şık a Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) İstanbul MP and a former reporter of the Cumhuriyet, quoting from Voltaire, saying, "We only have two days to live. It is not worth it to spend these days kneeling in front of vile people."

(AS/VK)