Nazlı Ilıcak, a 79-year-old journalist, was jailed after the 15 July coup attempt on charges of “supporting an armed terrorist organisation”. Released in 2019, a new verdict was issued against Ilıcak on Monday 4 November.
Journalist Ilıcak’s sentence of 2 years and 6 months in prison for an article she wrote in 2016 was upheld by the Court of Appeals.
Her lawyer Kemal Ertuğ Derin announced that Ilıcak had to go to a closed prison due to the continuation of her probation on “espionage” charges, whereas she should have been taken to an open prison. As a result, Nazlı Ilıcak handed herself in to Sakarya Prison No. 1.
Lawyer Derin said, “She is expected to stay in the closed prison for 2-3 weeks. Then she will be transferred to the open prison and will be released on probation”. He said.
“Espionage” charge and prison sentence:
A separate case was filed against Ilıcak in Istanbul’s 26th High Criminal Court, demanding life imprisonment for “military and political espionage”.
Ilıcak was sentenced to 5 years and 10 months imprisonment with a discretionary reduction of 1/10 on the charge of “disclosing information that should remain confidential for the security or internal or external political interests of the state”.
Application for parole:
Ilıcak applied for a suspended sentence for the completion of this sentence, which was granted by the Court of Cassation.
However, the suspended sentence was not applied in the “defamation” case.
Slander case:
Public Prosecutor Orhan Bakırcı filed an indictment against Ilıcak for the article titled “Hanefi Avcı’nın Operasyon Beklentisi” (Hanefi Avcı’s Operation Expectation), which was published on the closed Özgür Düşünce website on 16 June 2016.
In the indictment prepared by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Ilıcak was charged with “defamation”.