Istanbul, Turkey - An Ankara court formally charged four of nine men who had been investigated for playing a role in the killing of a senior judge, Anatolian news agency reported on Sunday.
Among the nine is the Islamist lawyer who police say burst into a committee meeting at the Council of State, Turkey's top administrative court, on Wednesday and opened fire, killing one judge and wounding four others.
Anatolian said the four men, including the suspected gunman, were charged by the court with "attempting to change the constitution, planned murder and hurling explosives", which would incur life sentences for all of them if convicted.
After being charged, they were taken to prison. The other five suspects were released by the court, it said.
Anatolian also said another suspect was taken to Ankara for questioning. He had been under police guard since Saturday in an Istanbul hospital for treatment of stab wounds.
The attack has led to new confrontation between the Islamist-leaning government and the secularist establishment, represented mainly by the respected military, over the role of religion in Turkey.
The killing has been seen as an attack on secularism because the gunman shot judges of the Council of State, which has upheld rules restricting the use of headscarves, an issue central to the debate over the influence of Islam in Turkish society.
Police say the suspect shouted Islamist slogans after the shooting, and newspapers have said he has confessed to shooting the judges because of their rulings in such cases.
Large, angry crowds pushed and booed ministers of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) at the funeral of judge Mustafa Ozbilgin in Ankara on Thursday, and called for the government's resignation.
The AKP has often clashed with the secularist establishment over the headscarf ban, restrictions on religious education and the use of alcohol. Secularists accuse the AKP of having a hidden Islamist agenda, but the ruling party denies this.