Prosecutor seeks three aggravated life sentences for journalists over Gülen links

A prosecutor has sought three aggravated life sentences each for journalists Nazlı Ilıcak, Ahmet Altan and Mehmet Altan in a case into the media leg of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), which widely believed to have been behind the July 15, 2016, failed coup attempt. 

In the indictment prepared by the Istanbul Terror and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau into the 17 suspects, a prosecutor sought aggravated life sentences and up to 15 years of prison for Ilıcak and the Altan brothers for "attempting to prevent the Turkish parliament from carrying out its duties or completely abolish it" and "attempting to remove the government of the Turkish Republic or prevent it from carrying out its duties." 

The trio also faces charges of "attempting to remove the constitutional order" and "committing a crime on behalf of an armed terrorist group without being a member of it."

Moreover, the prosecutor sought three aggravated life sentences each and up to 22.5 years in prison for fugitive suspects Ekrem Dumanlı, Tuncay Opçin and Emre Uslu over three of the aforementioned crimes excluding "committing a crime on behalf of an armed terrorist group without being a member of it."

Dumanlı, Opçin and Uslu were also charged with "managing an armed terrorist organization." 

The indictment, which included several columns by Ahmet Altan, said he wrote the columns "in order to prepare the public for a coup attempt by branding the president of the Turkish Republic as a dictator and saying that he will fall from power in a short period of time."

Moreover, the indictment also included cell phone records of Altan, which said that he was in contact with the "imams" of the movement of the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah...