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Trial begins of staff from Turkey opposition daily Cumhuriyet

Demonstrators hold placards reading "Justice for Cumhuriyet" in front of a courthouse in Istanbul on July 24, 2017

Seventeen directors and journalists from Turkey's opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper went on trial Monday charged with terror-related offences in what is seen as a key test of press freedoms under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The trial got underway at the vast main courthouse in Istanbul with defendants reading out their identities inside a courtroom crammed with supporters, an AFP journalist said. Earlier, supporters had let dozens of multicoloured balloons go into the air outside the courthouse, chanting: "Don't be silenced! A free media is a right!" A total of 17 staff of the newspaper -- including writers, cartoonists and executives -- are going on trial. Eleven of the 17 suspects have been held in jail with the other six free but still charged. Those appearing in court include some of the best known names in Turkish journalism including the columnist Kadri Gursel, the paper's editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu and the respected cartoonist Musa Kart.