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No release for jailed journalists in Turkey’s Cumhuriyet case

During the latest hearing in a state lawsuit against journalists from Turkey's Cumhuriyet newspaper, the court has upheld its decision to keep the defendants in jail until the next hearing.
Demonstrators stand around a copy of the daily Cumhuriyet newspaper during a rally in the Silivri district of  Istanbul on September 11, 2017. 
The controversial trial of staff from Turkey's main opposition daily resumes on September 11, 2017 in a case seen as a test for press freedom under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  / AFP PHOTO / OZAN KOSE        (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)

The sixth hearing in Turkey’s so-called Cumhuriyet lawsuit took place at the courthouse in the Silivri maximum security penitentiary outside Istanbul Sept. 11. The defendants — 17 managers, reporters and writers — from Cumhuriyet, the country’s largest secular daily newspaper, are accused of membership in a terrorist organization. Even though many secular Turks hoped that the six defendants who have remained in detention since Oct. 31, 2016, would be released, the court decided to keep them in jail until the next session on Sept. 25.

The left-leaning news website Diken announced the decision with the headline, “Cruelty Continues.”

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