Top Turkish court orders release of jailed Cumhuriyet journalists

ANKARA

Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeals ordered on Sept. 12 the release of six former employees of the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper who were jailed on terrorism-related charges.

The journalists released are Hakan Kara, Mustafa Kemal Güngör, Güray Öz, Önder Çelik, Bülent Utku and caricaturist Musa Kart. They had been sentenced to less than five years in jail, which usually leads to a suspended sentence in Turkish courts.

The journalists were accused of supporting the illegal PKK- which is listed as a terror organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU-, the banned leftist terror group DHKP-C, and FETÖ.

The journalists had been in and out of jail for more than two years since being sentenced. They were briefly freed while appealing their convictions, which were upheld in February by a court in Istanbul. They were then returned to Kandıra prison near İstanbul to serve the rest of their sentences.