The court in Istanbul on Wednesday found Dundar guilty of “acquiring secret papers for reconnaissance” and “knowingly and also willingly helping a terrorist organization without being a participant,” punishing him to a total of 27 1/2 years behind bars. Dundar’s lawyers did not go to the hearing in demonstration, stating the procedures violated the policies of fair trial as well as impartiality.
Dundar, the previous editor-in-chief of opposition paper Cumhuriyet, was on test for a 2015 tale charging Turkey’s intelligence solution of unlawfully sending out tools to Syria. Dundar got away to Germany in 2016 and also was being tried in absentia.
The story included a 2014 video that showed men in authorities uniforms and civilian clothes loosening screws to open up the vehicles and unboxing boxes. Later on pictures reveal trucks loaded with mortar rounds. The Associated Press can not validate the authenticity of the video clip.
The news report asserted that the Turkish intelligence service and also Turkey’s president did not allow the district attorney to start an investigation right into arms contraband.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was infuriated by the magazine, filing criminal charges versus Dundar as well as Ankara bureau principal Erdem Gul. Erdogan claimed the vehicles brought aid to Turkmen teams in Syria which Dundar would certainly “pay a high cost.”
Turkey later on conflicted directly in the Syrian civil battle, releasing four cross-border operations.
Dundar is accused of helping the network of U.S.-based Fethullah Gulen, who the federal government states masterminded Turkey’s 2016 failed successful stroke. The district attorney who got the vehicles quit as well as others, including armed forces officers, have actually been charged with links to Gulen. Gulen denies the allegations and remains in Pennsylvania.
Turkey’s main Anadolu news company reported that the court believed Dundar’s report aimed to present Turkey as a “country that supports fear” locally as well as worldwide. The court said that perception aided Gulen’s network, which additionally used the story in its own publications.
Dundar as well as Gul were arrested in 2015 and also spent 3 months in pre-trial apprehension. In 2016, a court convicted them to 5 to 6 years in prison for “acquiring and also disclosing secret files to be used for espionage.” Dundar was assaulted outside the court house on the very same day as the judgment yet was unimpaired.
After Dundar appealed the sentence, the Supreme Court of Appeals reversed the sentences in 2018 and ordered a retrial with harsher sentences. The retrial started in 2019.
Dundar’s property in Turkey is in the process of being confiscated.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Turkey at 154 out of 180 countries in its 2020 Press Freedom Index.