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The Turkish court pleaded guilty the Turkish nationalists who laid a black wreath in front of the new building of Agos weekly in Istanbul and made threatening statements  on the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, Panorama.am reports, citing Ermenihaber.am.

Referring to a report by Agos, the source notes that Nationalist Turkey Party Istanbul Chair Bilal Gökçeyurt and the chair of so-called Turan Organization Ercan Uçar have been sentenced to 6 months in prison for publically making threatening and insulting statements on grounds of racial and national discrimination. However, taking into account the fact that the defendants have not been tried previously, the court reduced the prison term to five months.

In addition, the court conditionally suspended the sentence, setting up five years of probation. If in the mentioned period the defendants refrain from committing new crimes, the court will drop the case, with the court ruling upholding in case of new offences.

To note, on 18 November 2016, the First Instance Court of Istanbul acquitted the suspects with the claim that there is no element of crime. Agos appealed the decision.

Afterwards, Istanbul’s Court of Appeals reversed the decision of acquittal, referring to European Convention on Human Rights.