An İstanbul prosecutor presented his final opinion to a court on Tuesday in a case against journalist Canan Coşkun, demanding up to three years’ jail time on accusations of “targeting officials involved in a counterterrorism operation.”
The verdict will be given by the İstanbul 26th High Criminal Court on July 19.
The Cumhuriyet daily’s court correspondent Coşkun on Sept. 20 reported on the testimony of lawyers who had been detained for alleged membership in the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), which is designated as a leftist terror group by Turkish authorities.
The prosecutor also accused Coşkun of “putting the investigation into the group at risk.”
Turkey is ranked 157th among 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) 2018 World Press Freedom Index.
Turkey is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world. As of July 7, 61 journalists had been convicted, while 179 are in pre-trial detention and 143 are the subject of outstanding detention warrants.
The government closed some 200 media outlets with government decrees issued after a coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016.