Oner, a reporter for the now-defunct weekly socialist newspaper Atilim, was taken into custody during a June 15, 1995, police raid on the newspaper’s Mersin bureau. On June 24, according to court documents, he was charged with membership in the outlawed Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP) under Article 168 of the Penal Code.
Investigators reportedly found numerous unspecified “documents” linking Oner to the MLKP. At his trial, two witnesses testified for the state, which asserted that Atilim was published by the MLKP and further accused Oner of writing and distributing unspecified MKLP “declarations.” According to the court documents, the prosecutor also claimed that banners depicting a “disappeared” political activist had been found in Oner’s office.
Oner was convicted, sentenced to 12 years and six months in jail, and sent to Erzurum Prison. As of December 2000, it was unclear where he was being held.