*Illustration: Zulal
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An interim judgement has been passed in the second hearing of the Cumhuriyet Trial in which 20 defendants are standing trial before the İstanbul 27th Heavy Criminal Court. Six of the suspects are in detention on remand.
The court ruled that Cumhuriyet Daily Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu, Executive Board Chairperson, Attorney Akın Atalay, columnist Kadri Gürsel, correspondent Ahmet Şık, accounting personel Emre İper and Ahmet Kemal Aydoğdu (charged for this tweets) remain in detention on remand.
The prosecutor of the case demanded "extending the detention on remand for all suspects on remand due to suspicion of obfuscating evidences and inadequacy of probation".
The third hearing will be held on September 25. Three more witnesses are expected to be heard in the third hearing. The Chief Judge of the trial said regarding the third hearing that they would be able to "make a healthier decision then".
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 trialArrested: Kadri Gürsel, Akın Atalay, Güray Öz, Musa Kart, Ahmet Kemal Aydoğdu, Emre İper, Hakan Karasinir, Murat Sabuncu, Ahmet Şık, Önder Çelik, Mustafa Kemal Güngör, Turhan Günay. Released on first hearing: Güray Öz, Musa Kart, Bülent Utku, Hakan Kara, Önder Çelik, Mustafa Kemal Güngör and Turhan Günay Probation: Aydın Engin, Hikmet Çetinkaya. No Confidentiality order: Bülent Yener, Günseli Özaltay, Orhan Erinç. Order issued to take forcibly to testify: Can Dündar, İlhan Tanır. |
(EA/BK/DG)