The hearing for the case against 9 journalists, including writer Asli Erdogan and philologist-writer Necmiye Alpay who were on the advisory board of the newspaper Ozgur Gundem which was shut down with a Statutory Decree (KHK) issued by the Erdogan regime in their bid to silence all opposition, was held today.

The 12th hearing of the case was held in the Istanbul Heavy Penal Court No.23 and Kemal Sancili, the only defendant under arrest, and former Editor in Chief Eren Keskin were present. Officials from the German and Dutch consulates also attended the hearing.

Sancili stated that the report on the digital material in evidence was not given to him and demanded his release.

Eren Keskin, who is also a lawyer, gave her defense and said: “In this age we live in, I cannot understand such attempts to pressure freedom of thought and expression.”

The defense’s lawyer Ozcan Kilic spoke after Keskin and demanded Sancili’s release.

The prosecution also called for Kemal Sancili’s release.

The panel of judges made a short recess and on their return, ruled for Sancili’s release and postponed the next hearing to July 3.

But Sancili was sent back to prison on the grounds that he had a separate conviction from another case.