Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu delivered his defence statement on July 25, 2017, the second day of the trial of 17 journalists and executives from the paper.
Sabuncu was scheduled to speak on July 24, but his testimony was delayed by a day after gendarmes at the Silivri Prison, where he has been held since October 2016, seized materials he planned to use in his defence as he was being transferred to the courthouse in central Istanbul.
The veteran journalist is accused of “helping an armed terrorist organization while not being a member” and faces a possible sentence of seven-and-a-half to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors claim that the paper’s news reports and its criticism of government policy supported terrorist groups, including the movement led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen – whom Turkey’s government blames for the July 2016 coup attempt – as well as outlawed militant Kurdish and leftist groups.
Sabuncu, however, rejected the charges, telling the court that it was more distressing to him to be called on to defend his newspaper’s headlines then to be sent to prison at the age of 47. He also focused on the punishment he and his colleagues have already suffered, and the fact that a prosecutor in the case who is allegedly linked to Gülen is free, even as journalists convicted of no crime remain in prison.
Cumhuriyet has published an abridged version of Sabuncu’s statement in English, as well as a version in Turkish.