The trial of 17 journalists and executives from daily newspaper Cumhuriyet who are charged in a case accusing the newspaper of having supported terrorists through its reporting will begin on July 24, 2017 at Istanbul’s Çağlayan Justice Palace at 10:30 a.m. Proceedings are tentatively scheduled to continue this week until July 28.

Prosecutors are demanding prison terms of up to 43 years for the defendants on charges that include “helping an armed terrorist organization while not being a member” and “employment-related abuse of trust”. They argue that the newspaper has acted since 2013 as “defender and protector” of the movement led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen – whom Turkey’s government blames for the failed July 2016 coup attempt – and of outlawed militant Kurdish and leftist groups, despite Cumhuriyet’s history of criticising those groups and the groups’ antipathy for one another.