Cumhuriyet trial’s sixth hearing to take place today in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

The sixth hearing of the trial of 17 executives and journalists from the daily Cumhuriyet, including the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu, Ahmet Şık, Kadri Gürsel and cartoonist Musa Kart, will take place today in a hearing room across Istanbul’s Silivri Prison. 

The first five hearings of the case had taken place in July in Istanbul’s Çağlayan courtroom.
At the fifth hearing on July 28, the court had ordered the release of seven daily Cumhuriyet journalists and executives but ruled for the continuation of arrest for another five who are being accused on charges of “supporting terror.” 

The released journalists and executives were cartoonist Musa Kart, Bülent Utku, Turan Günay, Önder Çelik, Kemal Güngör, Hakan Karasinir and Güray Öz.

However, the court had rejected the release demand of journalists Ahmet Şık, Kadri Gürsel, Murat Sabuncu, Kemal Aydoğdu and board member Akın Atalay.
Arrest warrants for the daily’s former-editor-in-chief Can Dündar and İlhan Tanır also remained in place.
The hearings of the daily’s 17 journalists and executives ended on July 28 after they testified over the past five days after being held for more than 270 days.

The charges directed at them include “membership of an armed terrorist organization” and “helping an armed terrorist organization while not being a member of it.”

If convicted, they face varying terms of up to 43 years in prison.
Various press associations came together in the Aegean province of İzmir on Sept. 8, and had called on the authorities to release the remaining jailed journalists.