Solak, the Gaziantep bureau chief of the now banned socialist magazine Mucadele, was arrested and charged under Article 168/2 of the Penal Code with membership in Devrimci Sol (also known as Dev Sol), an outlawed underground leftist organization responsible for numerous terrorist operations in Turkey. Solak was convicted on testimony from a witness who said he had seen the journalist distributing copies of Mucadele.
According to the trial transcript, the prosecution witness also testified that Solak had hung unspecified banners in public and had served as a lookout while members of Devrimci Sol threw a Molotov cocktail at a bank in the town of Gaziantep. The prosecution also cited “illegal” documents found after searches of Solak’s home and office. Solak confessed to the charges while in police custody but recanted in court.
On November 24, 1994, Solak was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison. At the end of 2002, he was being held in Sincan F-type Prison.