Last day of hearings in case of daily Cumhuriyet journalists, executives as verdict expected 

The last day of the first hearings in the case of daily Cumhuriyet journalists and executives began on July 28, as a verdict is expected to be announced in the evening hours. 

All 17 journalists and executives from the daily have testified over the past five days.

The charges directed at the journalists include "membership of an armed terrorist organization" and "helping an armed terrorist organization while not being a member of it."

Prosecutors are seeking sentences between 7.5 and 15 years in prison for Dündar, Sabuncu, Gürsel, Aydın Engin, Bülent Yener and Günseli Özaltay for "helping an armed terrorist organization while not being a member."

Akın Atalay, Mehmet Orhan Erinç and Önder Çelik are charged with "helping an armed terrorist organization while not being a member" and "abusing trust," with the prosecutor demanding between 11.5 and 43 years in jail for them. 

Between 9.5 and 29 years in jail is demanded for Bülent Utku, Kart, Hakan Karasinir, Mustafa Kemal Güngör and Hikmet Aslan Çetinkaya on the same charges as those directed at Atalay, Erinç and Çelik. 

In addition, the prosecutor sought between 7.5 and 15 years in prison for Şık for "helping and being a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the outlawed Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C)."