Millet | Imprisoned in Turkey | July 29, 2016

Job:Internet Reporter, Print reporter
Medium:Internet, Print
Beats Covered:Business, Politics
Gender:Male
Local or Foreign:Local
Freelance:No
Charge:Anti-state
Length of Sentence:Not Sentenced
Reported Health Problems:No

Istanbul police detained Ufuk Şanlı, a former politics and economy correspondent for the shuttered daily newspaper Millet, after the failed coup attempt of July 15, 2016, amid a sweeping purge of journalists and others suspected of following exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen. The government accuses Gülen of maintaining a terrorist organization and "parallel state structure" (or FETÖ/PDY, as the government calls it) within Turkey that it blames for orchestrating a failed military coup on July 15, 2016.

CPJ could not determine the exact date that Şanlı was taken into custody.

An Istanbul court on July 29, 2016, ordered Şanlı and 16 other journalists jailed pending trial on charges of "being members of an armed terrorist organization," according to the media monitoring group P24. The daily newspaper Hürriyet reported that prosecutors questioned the 17 journalists on accusations of "being members of an armed terrorist organization," "founding or leading an armed terrorist organization," "knowingly and willingly helping [a terrorist] organization without being involved in the organization's hierarchical structure," and "committing crimes in the name of a [terrorist] organization without being a member."

All but one of the journalists were charged with "being a member of an armed [terrorist] organization," which carries up to 10 years in prison, according to the indictment.

CPJ found the indictment to be similar to those presented at trials of other journalists in Turkey. Prosecutors cited as evidence in these cases journalistic activity or acts of free speech and communication, or cited circumstantial evidence such as being employed by a certain media outlet or having an account at a bank allegedly linked to Gulenists.

The indictment accused the defendants of manipulating the public perception of FETÖ to turn citizens against the government, which prosecutors argued made them members of the group that Turkey alleges is behind the attempted coup.

Prosecutors as evidence against Şanlı his work at a Gulenist outlet; social media activity; that he stayed at a Gülenist dormitory at college; and that he had the Bylock app on his phone. Turkish authorities say the messaging application is evidence of being a FETÖ member.

When the trial started in March 2017, an Istanbul court ordered Şanlı and four of his co-accused to be detained for the duration of the trial, according to reports.

Şanlı was being held in Istanbul's Silivri Prison.

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