Sentencing over alleged role in failed coup in 2016 condemned as devastating precedent that shows disregard for rule of law.

A Turkish court has sentenced six defendants, including three prominent journalists, to life in prison over allegations of involvement in a coup attempt in July 2016, the first conviction of journalists in trials related to the failed putsch.

The harsh verdict was swiftly condemned by press freedom advocates as a “devastating precedent” that shows “utter disregard for the rule of law” in Turkey. 

It came after a months-long trial during which it was alleged that the journalists sent “subliminal messages” via television appearances and paper columns urging the overthrow of the government, and that they maintained contact with members of the Fethullah Gulen network, a movement widely believed in Turkey to have orchestrated the coup attempt.

The verdict constitutes a major defeat for press freedom in Nato member Turkey, which has cracked down on dissent in the aftermath of the coup. At least 73 journalists remain behind bars, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which ranks Turkey the world’s worst jailer of journalists, ahead of China and Egypt.

The prominent journalists sentenced on Friday include the brothers Ahmet and Mehmet Altan, who have been detained since 2016, and Nazlı Ilıcak. The conviction defies an order by the country’s highest court to release Mehmet Altan, after it found last month that his imprisonment had violated his constitutional rights.

“Today’s verdict & sentences of life without parole for #AhmetAltan, #MehmetAltan & #NazliIlicak mark an apex of the disintegration of the #Ruleoflaw in #Turkey,” tweeted Sarah Clarke, the policy and advocacy manager for PEN International. “This sets a devastating precedent for scores of other journalists charged with similarly groundless charges.”

The International Press Institute said it was “appalled” at the verdict.

The sentencing came on the same day that another Turkish court ordered the release of Deniz Yücel, a German-Turkish journalist who spent just over a year in pre-trial detention without an indictment, in a case that tested relations between Ankara and Berlin and highlighted the precarious state of press freedom in Turkey.

A criminal court in Istanbul decided to release Yücel pending a trial, after prosecutors said they had completed their investigation into the journalist. The court accepted the indictment filed by prosecutors, who are seeking an 18-year prison sentence over allegations of spreading propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organisation.

The order to release Yücel was confirmed by the state-run Anadolu Agency, the German foreign minister, and his lawyer Veysel Ok, who tweeted a photograph of Yucel embracing his wife after he was freed.

Yücel, a correspondent for Die Welt, was detained on Valentine’s Day a year ago after going to an Istanbul police station for questioning. He was married in prison and spent months in solitary confinement at the maximum security prison in Silivri outside Istanbul.

He spent 366 days in detention without formal charges.

Yücel’s detention came amid a deep rift in relations between Germany and Turkey. Berlin barred Turkish ministers from holding rallies in Germany with Turkish citizens ahead of a referendum on presidential powers, and has condemned growing authoritarianism in Turkey under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who in turn has condemned rising Islamophobia in Europe. Talks on Turkey’s membership in the European Union have been stalled for years.