Prosecutors have sought prison terms for journalists Mehmet Baransu, Ahmet Altan, Yasemin Çongar and Yıldıray Oğur over the controversial “Balyoz” (Sledgehammer) case orchestrated by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).
Baransu, already imprisoned on charges of FETÖ membership, faces prison of up to 45 years for “obtaining documents related to state security and disclosing them” while Altan, Çongar and Oğur face prison terms of up to seven years for “disclosing information regarding state security.” A separate trial was sought for fugitive defendant Tuncay Opçin at the hearing in Istanbul where the prosecutor presented his indictment.
Baransu was a rising journalist who made a name for himself at Taraf newspaper where Altan, Çongar and Oğur worked as columnists and executives before the Balyoz case made headlines in Turkey. Balyoz was allegedly the name of a coup plot hatched by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in 2003 and an indictment was filed when Taraf, using documents obtained by Baransu, published the details of the plot.
Subsequently, dozens of top military officers were convicted of plotting a coup and were imprisoned two years later. However, they were all acquitted in 2014 when it was discovered that the Balyoz case itself was a plot by FETÖ to imprison generals and any other people they deemed as obstacles to their infiltration into the TSK.
Baransu had famously handed a suitcase full of “documents” to prosecutors linked to FETÖ regarding the alleged coup plot, essentially initiating the lawsuit.
Opçin, who is believed to be in the United States now, is accused of supplying documents to Baransu. FETÖ is accused of forging documents to implicate defendants in the Balyoz cases.
