Journalist Erdoğan Alayumat, a reporter with the shuttered Dihaber news agency, who had been imprisoned for more than a year on espionage charges based on his news reports, was released at a hearing of the Hatay 2nd High Criminal Court on 23 May.
Alayumat and fellow reporter Nuri Akman face up to 45 years in prison in the case. They are accused of "providing information for political or military espionage". Alayumat was detained in the case on 27 July 2017.
The session on 23 May was the third hearing in the case.
During the hearing it emerged that information on whether an area photographed by Alayumat is a military zone or not had not been sent by the General Staff. Lawyers for Alayumat said it was unacceptable that this document had not been released by the General Staff for 3.5 years.
In its interim decision, the court ruled for Alayumat's release imposing no judicial control measures but it also ruled to keep judicial control measures in place for reporter Nuri Akman, who had been released in the case earlier pending trial.
The trial was adjourned until October 19.
