ISTANBUL, Turkey — In one of the latest trials targeting anti-government protesters, Turkish prosecutors are accusing an unlikely group of attempting to overthrow the government —soccer fans.

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The gray-haired dad who founded Carsi, a hardcore soccer group that played a prominent role in the so-called Gezi protests, faces up to 49 years in prison on charges of leading the attempted coup via text messages and tweets. Thirty-four other Carsi members are being tried as well.

Turkish soccer club Besiktas' firm 'Carsi' light flares during a rally against the government at Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, 08 June 2013.

Critics say the trial, which began in December and is scheduled to resume Thursday morning, is a sign of dangerous government pressure on prosecutors, who have hit scores of Gezi participants with serious criminal charges.

Cem Yakiskan, the alleged ringleader and father of two, has found some humor in his case, proclaiming in court that if Carsi was powerful enough to topple the government, they would have focused their efforts on making sure their beloved soccer team Besiktas became champions.

Soccer fan Cem Yakiskan who is accused of trying to overthrow the Turkish government, Istanbul, 2015.

Despite these attempts at humor, it's clear the trial has taken a toll on Yakiskan and his family. He believes the government is trying to silence critical voices and he fears the judiciary may not give him or his comrades a fair shake.

This case "will show whether the Turkish judicial system is impartial or not," said his lawyer, Sabit Inan Kaya, adding that he was not optimistic.

Over the last year and a half, hundreds tied to the Gezi protests have faced legal action, including doctors who treated injured protesters.

More than 200 others — many with connections to left-wing groups that also participated in the Gezi protests — have been prosecuted in just the last seven months for insulting the president, which is a criminal offense in Turkey.

Meanwhile, thousands of police officers, prosecutors and judges (including the original trio of judges assigned to the Carsi case) have been fired or reassigned as the government aims to purge the system of what it views as internal enemies.

As a result, confidence in the system is shaken, with politicians, lawyers and judges themselves expressing doubts about its impartiality.

Members of Turkish soccer club Besiktas' fan group 'Carsi' gather in front of a courthouse to protest against the trial of 35 'Carsi' fans who took part in mass anti-government protests in 2013, in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 December 2014.

It is against this backdrop that Yakiskan and his family confront the possibility that he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

On a recent evening, Yakiskan, 49, and his wife were bundled up outside a restaurant he runs in his team’s stronghold of Besiktas, still marveling over accusations that he is the leader of a terrorist organization that helped mastermind an attempted coup.

"Police don’t like us and we are not fond of them either. But we know our democratic rights," Yakiskan said, explaining that Carsi members are experienced protesters who know how far they can go.

A Fenerbahce football fan poses alongside rivals from the Besiktas Carsi club at Gezi Park

The group is known for being defiant in the face of authority and proudly defending those who are oppressed such as victims of racism.

But it was Turkey’s Gezi protests where the group really found its calling. `

Tens of thousands of people, united in opposition to the government, took to the streets in the spring of 2013. And instead of cowering, it seemed that when police cracked down, Carsi thrived.

The soccer fans were old hands at the art of the protest and unfazed by walls of riot cops or tear gas and water fired at the crowds. Yakiskan spent those days marching through the streets of Istanbul like a teargas-soaked pied piper. "It was the best 15 days I ever had," he said.

Months later, his daughter wept as police led him out of their house, informing him that he was being detained for forming a criminal and terrorist organization. That organization, he found out, was Carsi, accused of attempting to violently seize control of the prime minister’s Istanbul office during the Gezi protests. Prosecutors claim Yakiskan was the ringleader, encouraging a coup through text messages and tweets.

Members of Turkish soccer club Besiktas' fan group 'Carsi' gather in front of a courthouse to protest against the trial of 35 'Carsi' fans who took part in mass anti-government protests in 2013, in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 December 2014.

As the trial resumes, his wife and two children are feeling the weight of the case.

"I’ve gone mad. My nerves have been broken," said his wife, Fatos Yakiskan. Since the Gezi protests, she said she has detected a "darkness" falling on Turkey. “We have been pressured and targeted on many fronts."

Fatos Yakiskan whose husband is accused of trying to overthrow the Turkish government, Istanbul.

Still, she tries to put on a brave face. As authorities led her husband out the door the day of his arrest, she followed them down the stairs, calling after him. "I’m proud of you."

Yakiskan is also proud of Carsi and his weeks of protest during Gezi.

"I have nothing to be ashamed of and can still look my children in the eye," he said. "It they take me in, I would be honored to go" to prison.