YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. Following court’s September 11 decision denying the release of six Cumhuriyet journalists and executives, Harlem Désir, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and David Kaye, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, emphasized the urgent need to restore media freedom and freedom of expression in Turkey, the OSCE told Armenpress.

“Turkey’s repression of media freedom and freedom of expression poses a direct threat to the safety of journalists and to journalism in the country,” the two media freedom watchdogs said. "The Cumhuriyet journalists and executives have already spent almost a year in prison for reporting issues of great public interest that the authorities deemed off limits. The decision to keep them in prison is not only unworthy of a democracy, it also ignores all related international commitments the country has signed up to protect.” They recalled that they have repeatedly urged Turkey to drop charges against the Cumhuriyet journalists and executives. “They must be released immediately, together with all journalists in prison in the country,” the two mandate holders said.

On September 11 the Silivri Court outside of Istanbul ruled to keep Cumhuriyet journalists and executives Akın Atalay, Ahmet Kemal Aydoğdu, Kadri Gürsel, Emre İper, Murat Sabuncu and Ahmet Şık in prison. The defendants, imprisoned between October 2016 and April 2017, continue to face prison sentences ranging from 7.5 to 43 years. Their indictments, which came more than five months after their initial detention, charge them with "being a member of an illegal organization", "aiding an illegal organization while not being a member".

The Cumhuriyet trial will resume on September 25 2017.