Two Turkish journalists walked free from prison on Friday after over a year behind bars in the trial on terror-related charges of staff from the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper, seen as a test of press freedom under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Cumhuriyet’s editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu and investigative reporter Ahmet Sik, who had both spent well over a year in jail, were ordered to be freed by the judge after a marathon day-long hearing, an AFP reporter said.
However, they remain charged and on trial. One more detained suspect, the paper’s chairman Akin Atalay, was ordered to stay in jail.
The three were the last remaining suspects in the case to be held behind bars ahead of a final verdict, leaving Atalay the sole suspect still behind bars.
A total of 17 staff from Cumhuriyet (Republic) face terror charges in the trial, which opened on July 24. Others have been gradually freed over the last year. It is still not clear when the final verdict will be announced.
The next hearing in the trial was set for March 16 and the suspects still face up to 43 years in prison if convicted.
Sabuncu and Atalay have spent the last 495 days in jail and Sik, who was detained a little after the initial wave of arrests, 434 days.