Turkey seeks up to 15 years jail for opposition daily staff

ISTANBUL: Turkish prosecutors on Friday demanded prison sentences of up to 15 years for 13 staff from the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper, the daily and state media reported.

A total of 17 current and former writers, cartoonists and executives from Cumhuriyet ("Republic") are currently on trial on terror charges in a case which has raised alarm over press freedom under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The trial began on July 24, 2017, and despite several conditional releases in previous hearings including two last week, the paper’s chairman Akin Atalay remains in jail. The prosecutor requested between 7.5 and 15 years in jail for 13 staff for "helping an armed terror organisation without being a member" during the hearing in Istanbul, Cumhuriyet and state news agency Anadolu reported.

The 13 included Atalay, the daily’s editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, investigative reporter Ahmet Sik, cartoonist Musa Kart and veteran political commentator Kadri Gursel. Cumhuriyet did not specify what the prosecutor demanded in relation to the others.