Prosecutor demands football fan group's acquittal for coup charges

A prosecutor has demanded acquittal for 35 members of Be?ikta? football fan group çAr?? for charges of plotting and organizing to topple the government during the 2013 Gezi Park protests, while asking for jail sentences for disobeying a law on meetings and demonstrations.

Prosecutor Abdullah Mirza Co?kun, working at Istanbul?s Ça?layan courthouse, said Sept. 11 that there had not been ?sufficiently certain and tangible evidence? against the 35 suspects from the çAr?? football fan club to charge them with overthrowing the government.

The Istanbul Public Prosecutor?s office had previously prepared an indictment September 2013 to demand life sentences for the Be?ikta? fans for ?attempting to overthrow the legally elected government through illegal means.?

However, the prosecutor?s office has failed to provide clear evidence supporting this allegation.

Additionally, police officers participating in the hearings denied the charges and had no complaints against the group. The football fans also denied the charges.

However, prosecutor Co?kun did charge the group with violating the law on meetings and demonstrations and requested jail terms, ranging from one-and-a-half to three years, for all defendants.

Co?kun also asked the court to jail four of them for violating the law on firearm and knife possession.

Several lawyers and defendants requested more time to counter the prosecutor?s allegations. The court ruled to postpone the next hearing to Dec. 29.

A lawsuit was opened against the 35 members of çAr??, when the court accepted Sept. 11, 2014, an indictment charging the suspects with ?attempting a coup? against the government. According to the indictment, the çAr?? members are accused of attempting to...