Watchdog

A court in Turkey has sentenced two journalists to at least five years in jail for revealing state secrets.

Can Dundar, editor in chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, was given five years and 10 months.

Erdem Gul, the paper's Ankara bureau chief, was given five years.

They were acquitted of some of the charges, including of trying to topple the government.

The ruling comes hours after an assailant tried to shoot one of them outside the Istanbul courthouse. Dundar, who was targeted, was not hurt.

Dundar and Gul were on trial for revealing state secrets on alleged arms smuggling to Syria in 2014.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had accused the men of undermining Turkey’s international reputation and vowed Dundar would "pay a heavy price," raising concerns the case was politicized.

The two will not immediately go to prison because the court is still due to deliver a verdict in a separate trial on charges of links to terrorist organizations.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP

Noted Kazakh journalist Guzyal Baidalinova is on trial in Almaty on libel charges.

Hearings in her case began at the Almaly district court on May 5.

Baidalinova, the owner and editor of the Nakanune.kz online news portal, was arrested in December after one of Kazakhstan's largest banks, Kazkommertzbank, filed a lawsuit against her accusing her of "organization and publishing false information."

Baidalinova rejected the charges, calling them politically motivated.

Nakanune.kz is known for its independence and for publishing criticism of local authorities.

Another journalist who works for the news website, Yulia Kozlova, was acquitted in February on drug charges after police raided her house.