The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Tuesday that Turkey had acted illegally in detaining two journalists despite the Supreme Court issuing an order for their release, DW reported.

Mehmet Atlan and Sahin Alpay were two of hundreds of journalists arrested on tenuous terror charges after the July 2016 failed coup attempt. The ECHR found that in the cases of journalists Mehmet Altan and Sahin Alpay there had been violations of the right to liberty and security, and of the right to freedom of expression.

Atlan and Alpay were both academics who also worked for the daily Cumhuriyet, one of Turkey's oldest and most prestigious newspapers. Almost half of the paper's reporters, columnists and executives are in jail.

In February, Atlan and his brother Ahmet Atlan were sentenced to life in prison for belonging to a terrorist organization for alleged ties to exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara has accused of orchestrating the failed coup. In March, Alpay was released from prison and sent into house arrest.

It is the first ECHR verdict on the situation facing journalists in Turkey:

"The ECHR noted that "there is a general problem in Turkey concerning the interpretation of anti-terrorism laws," and agreed with the plaintiffs that "dealing with matters of public interest" did not constitute incitement to violence.

Atlan's detention "could not be regarded as a necessary and proportionate interference in a democratic society."

Judges ordered Turkey to pay each man €21,500 euros."