Second day of the hearing of journalists tried in the scope of the so-called KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) at Silivri Prison Complex in Istanbul after yesterday’s hearing was held without defendants, lawyers and audience.

44 Kurdish journalists (36 of them have been in detention since December 2011) are being accused and charged for the news they wrote which are considered evidence of their ties with the KCK organization.

Lawyer Sinan Zincir demanded the rereading of the indictment during today’s hearing as journalists and lawyers left the hearing room yesterday when the court board denied journalist Kenan Kýrkaya permission to speak about the ongoing hunger strike by Kurdish political prisoners. The court board rejected lawyer Zincir’s demand, defending that it would be unnecessary to do that as journalists and lawyers protested and disagreed to attend the trial yesterday at their own request.  

In response to Zincir who asked why the jailed journalists on hunger strike weren’t provided with salt and sugar after yesterday’s trial, the court board said that “The prison administration has conveyed to us its decision to provide fasting journalists with water alone as it has been observed that they don’t need sugar and salt which they reportedly obtain from candies they eat in their ward in the evening”.

The trial continues with the readout of the rest of the indictment.