Turkey Frees Journalist Altan After European Rights Court Ruling
By Gokan GUNES
04/14/21 AT 2:52 PM
A Turkish court on Wednesday released journalist and novelist Ahmet Altan after more than four years in prison on charges of involvement in a failed 2016 coup attempt that he had always denied.
The Court of Cassation ruling came a day after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) demanded the 71-year-old's freedom in a verdict that accused Turkey of violating his civil rights.
"I don't know how I got out. I was sitting (in prison) and all of a sudden I was told this evening that I would be released," Altan told AFP in front of his home in Istanbul.