The trial of journalists and administrators of Cumhuriyet, the secular opposition daily against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which has become one of the symbols of the threats to press freedom in Turkey, was resumed this morning in a courtroom of the Silivri prison in Istanbul.
Nineteen people put in the bar, including some of the country's best-known reporters, such as former editor Can Dundar, tried in absentia for taking refuge in Germany, and his successor at the head of the newspaper, Murat Sabuncu, detained for 495 days, as the chairman of the newspaper's board of directors, Akin Atalay. The well-known investigative reporter Ahmet Sik is also in pre-trial detention for 434 days.
The defendants are accused in various capacities of links with the alleged coup network of Fethullah Gulen, the Kurdish PKK and the extreme left group Dhkp / ce risked up to 43 years in prison. In this sixth hearing, a new ruling is expected on the continuation of the precautionary custodies in prison.
According to the observatory for press freedom P24, the number of journalists currently detained in Turkey is 155, more than in any other country in the world.