In the trial of former employees of the government-critical Turkish newspaper "Cumhuriyet", a chamber of the highest appeals court ordered five acquittals. After 142 days in detention, journalists were greeted on Thursday by their relatives and other supporters as they left Kandira Prison in Kocaeli town, northwestern Turkey.
According to the state news agency Anadolu, the five people - among them the well-known cartoonist Musa Kart - will in future, however, be barred from leaving the country. Another detained employee, the accountant Emre Iper, has to stay in prison.
According to Turkish media, according to the same decision, the ex-investigative journalist and today's MP Ahmet Sik will no longer be punished for terrorist support but for terrorist propaganda. Thus the verdict was defused. Sik was still at large. According to the media, the proceedings are now to be returned to the lower court. This step is considered formal.
In the internationally persecuted case in April 2018 a total of 15 ex-employees of the "Cumhuriyet" were sentenced to several years in prison. The proofs were mainly articles from the "Cumhuriyet". It is one of the few Turkish newspapers that is not in the hands of media moguls but belongs to an independent foundation.
The Turkish government is massively against media houses and journalists after a coup attempt in 2016. Turkey ranks 157th out of 180 in the press freedom ranking for Reporters Without Borders (ROG).
