First Day of Cumhuriyet Trial

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First hearing of Cumhuriyet trial in which 19 defendants of whom 11 are Cumhuriyet daily employees and one Twitter user are arrested started today (July 24).

Arrested defendants of the trial were taken to the courtroom.

There are Mariette Cauchi from the International Senior Lawyers Project, Isaebelle Rossaert from PEN Belgium, Regula Venske from PEN Germany, Maria Emilia Arioli from PEN Switzerland, Steven Ellis, Henri Koponen, Barbara Trionfi and Marty Steffens from the International Press Institute, Jorgen Lorentzen fron PEN Norway, Nora Wehofsits from the ECPMF, Mogens Blicher Bjerregård from the European Federation of Journalists, Johann Bihr and Erol Önderoğlu from the Reporters Without Borders and EU MPs Arne Lietz and Rebecca Harms among the attendees.

Kadri Gürsel, Akın Atalay and Musa Kart pleaded on the first day of the hearing. The trial will resume at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Panel of judges

İstanbul 27th Heavy Penal Court Penal of Judges Chair: Abdurrahman Orkun Dağ.

The members of the panel are as follows: Mehmet Arslan, Halit içdemir.

Procurations from 1,100 judges

1,100 lawyers gave the procuration to the trial. Journalists were not let inside due to a large number of attorneys wanting to enter the courtroom.

Arrested Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu, columnist Kadri Gürsel, caricaturist Musa Kart, Cumhuriyet Foundation Management Board member Attorney Bülent Utku, Cumhuriyet Foundation Management Board member Attorney Mustafa Kemal Güngör, Editor-in-Chief of the Cumhuriyet Book Supplement Turhan Günayi columnist Güray Öz, attorney Akın Atalay and Cumnhuriyet correspondent Ahmet Şık entered the courtroom with acclaims.

Who faces how many years in prison on what charges?

Can Dündar, Mehmet Murat Sabuncu, Kadri Gürsel, Aydın Engin, Bülent Yener and Günseli Özaltay face from 7.5 to 15 years in prison each on charge of “aiding an armed terrorist organization as a non-member”.

Akın Atalay, Mehmet Orhan Erinç and Önder Çelik face from 11.5 to 43 years in prison each on charges of “aiding an armed terrorist organization as a non-member” and “misconduct”.

Bülent Utku, Musa Kart, Hakan Karasinir, Mustafa Kemal Güngör and Hikmet Aslan Çetinkaya face from 9.5 to 29 years in prison each on charges of “aiding an armed terrorist organization as a non-member” and “misconduct”.

Ahmet Şık faces from 7.5 to 15 years in prison each on charge of “aiding the armed terrorist organizations of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) as a non-member”.

The names of those standing trial

Arrested:  Kadri Gürsel, Akın Atalay, Güray Öz, Musa Kart, Ahmet Kemal Aydoğdu, Bülent Utku, Hakan Karasinir, Murat Sabuncu, Ahmet Şık, Önder Çelik, Mustafa Kemal Güngör, Turhan Günay.

Probation: Aydın Engin, Hikmet Çetinkaya.

Confidentiality order: Bülent Yener, Günseli Özaltay, Orhan Erinç.

Order issued to take forcibly to testify: Can Dündar, İlhan Tanır.

What happened?

Cumhuriyet Daily Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu, columnists Hakan Kara, Hikmet Çetinkaya, Aydın Engin, Kadri Gürsel, Güray Öz, cartoonist Musa Kart, Cumhuriyet Foundation Management Board members Attorney Bülent Utku, Attorney Mustafa Kemal Güngör, Önder Çelik, Bülent Yener, Editor-in-Chief of the Cumhuriyet Book Supplement Turhan Günay and Accounting Manager Günseli Özaltay were taken into custody on 31 October 2016. ok, will do that.

Engin and Çetinkaya were released on November 4, 2016. Özaltay and Yener were also released after being questioned by the prosecution.

Murat Sabuncu, Hakan Kara, Musa Kart, Bülent Utku, Güray Öz, Mustafa Kemal Güngör, Önder Çelik, Turhan Günay and Kadri Gürsel, however, were formally arrested on November 5, 2016.

A detention order was issued for Cumhuriyet Foundation Chief Executive Officer Attorney Akın Atalay and journalist Can Dündar who were abroad at the time their colleagues were detained.

Atalay was taken into custody at the airport while returning to Turkey on November 11, 2016 and was arrested on November 13, 2016.
Cumhuriyet daily journalist Ahmet Şık was also taken into custody on December 29, 2016. Officials cited his postings and reports on the social media as the reason for his detention, and he was taken to court for arrest on the same day.

On December 30, 2016, the İstanbul Criminal Judgeship of Peace arrested Şık, charging him with "propagandizing for FETÖ and PKK". (EA/BK/TK)