{"id":8656,"date":"2017-07-24T04:46:54","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T08:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=8656"},"modified":"2017-07-24T04:46:54","modified_gmt":"2017-07-24T08:46:54","slug":"turkeys-cumhuriyet-journalists-terrorism-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2017\/07\/24\/turkeys-cumhuriyet-journalists-terrorism-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey’s Cumhuriyet journalists in terrorism trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Selin Girit<\/span><\/p>\n

Seventeen journalists and managers at Turkish opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet were facing trial on Monday on charges of aiding a terrorist organisation.\u00a0 If found guilty this week, they could face sentences of up to 43 years in jail. Ten have already been in pre-trial detention for almost nine months.\u00a0 At the Istanbul courthouse a large crowd of supporters let off balloons and called for their release.\u00a0 There was chaos as they tried to enter the court for the start of the trial.\u00a0 One of the journalists on trial is Turhan Gunay, 71, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper’s book supplement.<\/p>\n

“I cannot touch him. I cannot hug him,” says his daughter, Elif, who is allowed to visit him once a week, for an hour.<\/p>\n

“We talk over the phone behind a glass. When the time is up, they cut the line.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nElif Gunay (C) says she struggles to understand why her father, who ran the paper’s books section, has been jailed<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n

“It is so frustrating to be taken away from him every week.”<\/p>\n

She says he has been through various health problems, including atherosclerosis (a hardening of the arteries) followed by an operation.<\/p>\n

“But even that was not enough for him to be released on bail,” she complains.<\/p>\n