Thirty-one former employees of a now shuttered Turkish newspaper that had backed the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen went on trial Monday charged with links to the failed 2016 coup.

Those on trial include writers and executives from the Zaman daily and its English-language sister publication Today’s Zaman, which were taken over by the state in March 2016 and shut down in July that year.

The trial is the latest to get underway for journalists in Turkey under the state of emergency imposed after the botched putsch, fueling growing concerns over press freedoms in the country.

Both publications were closely aligned with Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of orchestrating the July 15, 2016, coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Gulen has strongly denied the charge.

Source: AFP