Former Turkish President Abdullah Gül said journalists who stand trial should not be put under pretrial detention, in response to reporters’ questions on Friday about 17 Cumhuriyet daily journalists currently being tried on terror charges.
Commenting on the trial of the 17 Cumhuriyet journalists, which started on Monday and is expected to end with a verdict on Friday, Gül said: “I have always said the trial of journalists without being under arrest is what is right. I am also thinking now that it is even more right.”
Emphasizing that the verdict will be given by the court, Gül said it would decrease the national and international pressure on Turkey if journalists were to be tried without first being put in pretrial detention.
A total of 17 Cumhuriyet journalists and executives who were arrested in November 2016 are accused by an April indictment of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) and the Gülen movement.