Three retired generals were sentenced to life in prison on charges of "attempting to overthrow the government by force," but their terms were later reduced to 20 years.
On 1 March 2015, in the wake of allegations by the ruling party that the "Sledgehammer" documents were forgeries, Baransu was detained in his home in the Kağıthane district of Istanbul.
[16] The exact charge leveled against Baransu was that he had formed a criminal organization" and procured, publicized and then destroyed “documents related to the state’s interests at home and abroad.”[6] In an article in the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, Ahmet Altan, founding editor of Taraf, defended Baransu, writing, “Since when have coup plans been classified as ‘documents related to state security’ and ‘state knowledge that needs to be kept classified?’ I am the person who published the [Sledgehammer] story, the one who decided it needed to be published, the one who didn't doubt for a moment that Sledgehammer was a coup plot."
Should we argue that journalists should simply ignore the right of the people to be properly informed and stay away from documents and evidence showing illegal activities conducted within the state?
Article 19 had previously expressed concern about the arrest of journalists working for the newspaper Zaman, which, like Taraf, it noted, "play an important role in investigating alleged government corruption and maintaining a diversity of voices in the Turkish press.
"This case appears to be an effort to target Mr. Baransu for the materials he published, in violation of the right to press freedom," IPI Director of Advocacy and Communications Steven M. Ellis said.
"Given the circumstances of the case against him, there appears to be no legitimate reason to detain Mr. Baransu while the investigation proceeds and we call on Turkish authorities to release him immediately."
Meanwhile Baransu faced a possible 52-year prison sentence "for his 2013 revelations of an 'action plan' developed by Turkey's National Security Council targeting the Fethullah Gulen religious movement.
[20] Baransu has been held behind bars since 2015, having also been convicted that year of "insulting the President" and sentenced to 10 months in prison on 30 June 2015 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.