Cumhuriyet Daily Directors, Columnists Behind Bars For 100 Days

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Cumhuriyet Daily Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu, Editorial Consultant Kadri Gürsel, cartoonist Musa Kart, as well as Cumhuriyet Foundation Management Board members Önder Çelik, Bülent Utku, Mustafa Kemal Güngör, Güray Öz, Hakan Kara and the Editor-in-Chief of the Book Supplement (?) Turhan Günay have been deprived of their freedom for 100 days.

Cumhuriyet Foundation Chief Executive Officer Attorney Akın Atalay and reporter Ahmet Şık have been in custody for 94 and 45 days respectively.

The nine were taken into custody on October 31, 2016 and were later placed under arrest on November 5, 2016. They have been waiting behind bars for their indictments for 95 days.

The operation against the managers and employees of Cumhuriyet daily was launched by prosecutor Murat İnam, one of the suspects in the investigation into the "Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ)"

What happened?

Cumhuriyet Daily Editor-in-Chief Murat Sabuncu, columnists Hakan Kara, Hikmet Çetinkaya, Aydın Engin, Kadri Gürsel, Güray Öz, cartoonist Musa Kart, Cumhuriyet Foundation Management Board members Attorney Bülent Utku, Attorney Mustafa Kemal Güngör, Önder Çelik, Bülent Yener, Editor-in-Chief of the Cumhuriyet Book Supplement Turhan Günay and Accounting Manager Günseli Özaltay were taken into custody on 31 October 2016. ok, will do that.

Engin and Çetinkaya were released on November 4, 2016. Özaltay and Yener were also released after being questioned by the prosecution.

Murat Sabuncu, Hakan Kara, Musa Kart, Bülent Utku, Güray Öz, Mustafa Kemal Güngör, Önder Çelik, Turhan Günay and Kadri Gürsel, however, were formally arrested on November 5, 2016.

A detention order was issued for Cumhuriyet Foundation Chief Executive Officer Attorney Akın Atalay and journalist Can Dündar who were abroad at the time their colleagues were detained.

Atalay was taken into custody at the airport while returning to Turkey on November 11, 2016 and was arrested on November 13, 2016.
Cumhuriyet daily journalist Ahmet Şık was also taken into custody on December 29, 2016. Officials cited his postings and reports on the social media as the reason for his detention, and he was taken to court for arrest on the same day.

On December 30, 2016, the İstanbul Criminal Judgeship of Peace arrested Şık, charging him with "propagandizing for FETÖ and PKK". (EKN/DG)