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Defendants: Can Dündar

Media Outlet and Position: Cumhuriyet – Former Editor-in-Chief

Accusations: Obtaining secret documents for espionage

Charges: 5 years 10 months

Court: İstanbul 14. High Criminal Court

Case Background: 

Can Dündar, former editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper, faces charges of “obtaining secret documents for espionage” and “aiding a terrorist organization whilst not being a member” in two separate cases after Cumhuriyet reported that trucks belonging to Turkey’s National Intelligence Service (MİT) allegedly carried weaponry across the border to Syria. Those reports, which are being used as evidence, date back to January 2014.

The case included two other defendants; Cumhuriyet’s Ankara correspondent Erdem Gül and opposition party CHP MP Enis Berberoğlu, who is currently imprisoned.

A court sentenced earlier Dündar to five years and 10 months in prison and Gül to five years on charges of “obtaining and revealing secret documents for espionage”, while of ordering the trial on the charge “aiding a terrorist organization whilst not being a member” to proceed separately.

On June 14, 2017, MP Berberoğlu was sentenced to 25 years on charges of “political and military espionage” – later reduced to five years, 10 months by another court ruling.

The most recent hearing, in which the court decided to wait for a Supreme Court decision on whether to overturn the sentences, took place closed to the public. Next hearing is set for October 2.