An Istanbul court has accepted an indictment against Oğuz Güven, the web editor of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, over a story about the death of a public prosecutor, a judicial source said Wednesday.
Güven is accused of making terrorist propaganda, and disseminating terrorist publications, for which he may face up to 10 years and five months in prison, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to restrictions over speaking to the media.
The 28th High Criminal Court also ordered Güven's release from custody until the first hearing scheduled for September 14.
Güven, the editor-in-chief of cumhuriyet.com.tr, was arrested on May 12, and remanded in custody three days later in connection with the online edition of an article about the death of Mustafa Alper, the chief prosecutor of Denizli province in southwest Turkey, who was killed alongside his driver in a traffic accident on May 10.
The truck driver was arrested following the incident.
Referring to Alper’s role in prosecuting alleged members of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), the story was headlined "A truck rammed chief prosecutor Mustafa Alper, who filed the first FETÖ indictment".
The headline -- which was changed within an hour -- was widely interpreted on social media as implying a direct link between the FETÖ investigation and Alper’s death.
FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen are accused of orchestrating the last July’s attempted coup, as well as previous attempts to overthrow the government through infiltrating state institutions.
The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Ankara had also opened an investigation against fugitive FETÖ suspects Emre Uslu and Tuncay Opçin, who both made insulting remarks about Alper’s death.
Prosecutors in the capital had said Uslu and Opçin had insulted a public officer and insulted the memory of a dead person, both criminal offenses in Turkey.
Twelve Cumhuriyet journalists and executives are currently in prison facing terror charges.
