By: Daniel McElroy

Atilla Taş, the Turkish singer and activist who since 2016 has leveraged social media to resist the corrupt Erdoğan regime, was sentenced on Friday to three years and one month in prison. An Ankara court convicted him of “knowingly and willingly” aiding FETÖ, an organization the regime believes was responsible for a failed 2016 coup d’etat, even as it admitted he was “not included in the hierarchical structure” of the group.

Taş first fell under the regime’s suspicion the spring before the coup, after he posted a tweet critical of then-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. He was arrested and quickly released. Then, after the coup one of Taş’s songs, “Hırsız” (Thieves), became a rallying anthem for critics of Erdoğan’s regime. He has continued to be active on social media throughout his legal saga—criticizing the Turkish government and its attempts to silence outspoken journalists and other public voices—but has maintained that he was at home during the coup itself and heard about the events on Twitter.

Arrested again in September 2016, Taş was held in pretrial detention until a first trial in March of last year, during which he was accused of terrorism and bona fide membership in FETÖ, and faced up to two life sentences if convicted. Though he was acquitted and quickly released, Taş was arrested a third time in April 2017 along with Murat Aksoy, a prominent journalist. They were again held for roughly six months before all terrorism related charges were dropped a second time. Overall, Taş spent 416 days in detention.

On Thursday, March 8 both Taş and Aksoy were tried once again on similar charges, and this time were found guilty of supporting FETÖ. This conviction comes just one month after several other journalists were sentenced to life in prison without parole for their apparent involvement in the attempted coup. The most recent trial is just one arm of a larger investigation into FETÖ’s supposed influence over Turkish media.

In the almost two years since tanks rolled through Istanbul streets attempting to depose Erdoğan’s government, repression of dissenting opinions has run rampant in Turkey. Roughly 150 media outlets have been shut down since mid-2016, and mass trials of former journalists and government employees have become common—the day after Taş’s conviction warrants were issued for the arrest of 243 other suspected members of FETÖ.

Due to the time Taş has already spent in detention, he is not expected to return to prison immediately. On Friday, following the sentencing, Taş tweeted “The judicial process has not ended. I believe that I will be acquitted in the end, you should believe it too. I did nothing other than oppose [the government].”