Court releases journalists convicted in failed Turkish coup

Associated Press
Updated

ISTANBUL (AP) — A court has ordered the release of two prominent journalists convicted in connection with a 2016 failed coup attempt in Turkey.

The official Anadolu news agency reports the court in Istanbul on Monday ordered Ahmet Altan and Nazli Ilicak released from prison on the condition that they check in regularly with police. The country's Supreme Court of Appeals in July overturned the pair's life sentences.

Both were convicted of aiding the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, identified by Turkish officials as the coup's mastermind. The journalists denied the accusations. In a retrial Monday, Altan was resentenced to 10 1/2 years and Ilicak to nearly nine. Both had been detained since July 2016.

The court also acquitted Altan's brother, newspaper columnist Mehmet Altan. He was released from prison in June 2018 pending an appeal of his life sentence.