Dundar was convicted in absentia of espionage and aiding an armed organisation, prompting criticism from Germany.
Turkish journalist Can Dundar has been sentenced in absentia to 27 years and 6 months in jail for espionage and aiding an armed organisation, in line with his legal professionals.
Dundar, the previous editor-in-chief of Turkish each day newspaper Cumhuriyet, and a colleague, Erdem Gul, have been each sentenced in 2016 to 5 years in jail for publishing a video purporting to point out Turkish intelligence trucking weapons into Syria. They have been later launched pending attraction.
Now a resident of Germany, he had confronted as much as 35 years in jail for allegedly supporting “terrorism” and navy or political espionage.
Dundar’s legal professionals refused to attend the ultimate listening to on Wednesday.
“We don’t need to be a part of a follow to legitimise a beforehand determined, political verdict,” they mentioned in a written assertion earlier than the listening to.
German Overseas Minister Heiko Maas criticised the ruling as a “exhausting blow in opposition to unbiased journalistic work in Turkey”, which he known as a elementary proper.
“Journalism just isn’t against the law however an indispensable service to society – even and particularly when it appears critically and investigatively on the fingers of these in energy,” Maas advised RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland.
Fahrettin Altun, the Turkish presidency’s communications director, mentioned on Twitter Dundar’s sentence doesn’t violate freedom of expression.
Writing in German, he mentioned Turkey expects its companions to just accept the court docket’s determination and extradite him.
For critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Dundar has turn out to be an emblem of what they are saying is Turkey’s sweeping crackdown on press freedom, particularly since a failed coup in 2016.
The federal government says the courts are unbiased and that it’s responding to threats going through the nation.
The court docket earlier this month delayed its verdict after Dundar’s legal professionals requested for the judges to get replaced to make sure a good trial, a request that was rejected.
An Istanbul court docket had declared Dundar a fugitive and seized all his property in Turkey.