One of the three imprisoned defendants, Şükrü Tuğrul Özşengül, has died of a heart attack he suffered at Silivri Prison

Şükrü Tuğrul Özşengül, an ex-lecturer at the Police Academy who stood trial along with journalists Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak in the Altans Trial, died of a heart attack in Silivri Prison on 30 July 2022. Özşengül was buried at Küçükyalı Cemetery in İstanbul’s Maltepe district on 31 July.

Özşengül, who had previously had a heart attack while in prison and undergone surgery, also suffered from high blood pressure. However, when he mentioned his condition during his trial and demanded his release, the president of the court had told Özşengül that he did “not have a serious heart problem” and read out a report issued by a paediatrician that stated that “his condition was no obstacle to imprisonment.”

Özşengül was sentenced to 12 years in prison on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization.” His file is still awaiting the final judgement of the Assembly of Criminal Chambers at the Supreme Court of Appeals.

Evolution of the case: Changing charges and verdicts

At the final hearing of the Altans case, held on 16 February 2018, journalist and novelist Ahmet Altan, academic and journalist Mehmet Altan, veteran journalist Nazlı Ilıcak, former art director of the now-defunct newspaper Zaman Fevzi Yazıcı, the newspaper’s marketing director Yakup Şimşek and Şükrü Tuğrul Özşengül were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for “attempting to destroy the constitutional order” on the basis of the allegation that “they knew about the 15 July 2016 coup attempt beforehand” and therefore were complicit in it.

The 16th Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals, which completed its review of the appeal in 2019, however, overturned the verdict of the court of first instance. The supreme court ruled that the actions of Ahmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak constituted the crime of “knowingly and willingly aiding the armed terrorist organization” and that Yazıcı, Şimşek and Özşengül should be tried on the charge of “membership of an organization.” The chamber also ruled that Mehmet Altan should be acquitted.

In the retrial that followed, the İstanbul 26th High Criminal Court reached its verdict on 4 November 2019. The court overturned the aggravated life sentences handed out to Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan, Nazlı Ilıcak, Fevzi Yazıcı, Yakup Şimşek and Şükrü Tuğrul Özşengül in line with the ruling of the Supreme Court of Appeals. The court then convicted Ahmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak of “knowingly and willingly aiding a terrorist organization despite not being a member of it” and sentenced them to imprisonment of 10 years and 6 months and 8 years and 9 months respectively. The court sentenced Fevzi Yazıcı and Yakup Şimşek to imprisonment of 10 years and 15 months each and Şükrü Tuğrul Özşengül to imprisonment of 12 years on the charge of “membership of an organization.” The court acquitted Mehmet Altan in line with the Supreme Court of Appeals decision.

In its further review of the case following the retrial, the 16th Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the sentences given to Yazıcı, Şimşek and Özşengül on 14 April 2021, while overturning the sentences given to Altan and Ilıcak on the basis that the remission prescribed by law had not been applied to these sentences. Ahmet Altan, who had been still in pre-trial detention at that time, was released upon the 16th Criminal Chamber’s decision. Ilıcak and Mehmet Altan had been released earlier in the course of the trial.

Prosecutor’s office calls for judgment against imprisoned defendants to be overturned

On 29 April 2021, the Chief Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court of Appeals called for the ruling of the 16th Criminal Chamber of 14 April 2021 to be overturned in favor of the three defendants who remained in detention, Fevzi Yazıcı, Yakup Şimşek and Özşengül, as well.

In its submission, the Chief Prosecutor’s Office stated that the right of defense had been obstructed because the final opinion of the prosecution as to the accusations presented during the retrial had not been provided to the defendants and their lawyers within the period stipulated in the Code of Criminal Procedure.

During the original trial, the İstanbul 26th High Criminal Court had rejected requests for two witnesses, whose implicating statements against Yazıcı and Şimşek formed the basis for the verdict of conviction against the two defendants, to be heard in court and cross-questioned by the defense. The submission of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office also noted that “the rejection of these demands by the court on unlawful grounds obstructed the defendants’ right to a fair trial.”

In addition, the Chief Prosecutor’s Office recalled that the trial court had not determined whether the accounts of the defendants with the shuttered Bank Asya -- one of the pieces of evidence used in their conviction -- were salary accounts, and stated that thus the court had given its verdict regarding Yazıcı and Şimşek on the basis of an incomplete prosecution. For all these reasons, the Chief Prosecutor’s Office then demanded that the ruling of the Supreme Court of Appeals dated 14 April 2021 concerning Yazıcı, Şimşek and Özşengül should be revoked, and that the verdict of the İstanbul 26th High Criminal Court dated 4 November 2019 should be overturned, as regards the charge of “membership of a terrorist organization.”

File under examination since April

Evaluating the objection, the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals partially accepted the demands of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office. The 3rd Criminal Chamber agreed with the opinion of the prosecution that the fact that the final charges had not been provided to the defendants and their lawyers within the period stipulated in the Code of Criminal Procedure amounted to violation of the right of defense. Accordingly, the chamber ruled that the ruling of the 16th Penal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals dated 14 April 2021 upholding the earlier verdict be overturned.

In its decision, which was dated 23 February 2022, the 3rd Criminal Chamber rejected the other grounds for objection cited by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office, stating that they had “not been considered pertinent.”

The chamber decided that the Chief Prosecutor’s objection should be sent to the Assembly of Criminal Chambers of the Court of Cassation to be evaluated. The file, which was sent to the Assembly of Criminal Chambers on 12 April 2022, is still under evaluation.

Sentences due to expire next year

Fevzi Yazıcı’s lawyer Mesut Yazıcı emphasized that the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the court ruling due to the obstruction of the right of defense and that the file has been under evaluation since April 2022. Lawyer Yazıcı stated that Şimşek and Yazıcı, who were each separately sentenced to prison sentences of 10 years and 15 months on the charge of “membership in a terrorist organization,” are set to become eligible for release upon completing their sentences in 2023.