The six men charged for the attacks last month against Turkish Cypriot daily ‘Afrika’ and the TRNC Legislative Assembly building have been sentenced to between two and six months in prison.
Judge Tacan Reynar who was presiding over the case found all of the six accused guilty of the charges of unlawful assembly, rioting, causing damage to property and inflicting intentional harm.
The accused Mehmet İpek and Ahmet Türkmen were sentenced to six months in prison.
The third accused Abdülhadi Doğan was sentenced to four months in prison while Bayram Ak and Ümit Taş received 3 months and Oktay Güney two months.
The six men were part of a group of angry demonstrators who attacked Afrika’s offices on January 22 after the daily likened Turkey’s Afrin operation in northern Syria to Ankara’s presence in the TRNC.
Protesters threw rocks and eggs at the building smashing windows and brought the newspaper’s sign down causing significant damage. Later some of the demonstrators climbed onto the roof of the TRNC parliament waving flags before being brought down by police.
BRT
