The decisive hearing began at 8am in Istanbul, in a courtroom so small that many who wanted to follow the deliberations were left outside, reports Anna Lindenfors via Twitter.

The eleven accused were arrested in the summer of 2017, after variously being involved in a conference on digital security on the island of Büyükada. According to the suspects, the meeting had a hidden agenda - to plan a coup d'état in Turkey.

Swedish IT consultant

Swedish IT consultant Ali Gharavi was invited as an expert. Among the suspects are also Idil Eser and Taner Kiliç, two of the human rights organization Amnesty International's top executives in Turkey.

The prosecutor's side pleaded last year to harsh penalties for, among others, Eser and Kiliç, but opened up for Gharavi and some others to be released.

Amnesty: Absurd

Amnesty calls all accusations absurd. Anna Lindenfors, secretary general of Amnesty in Sweden, says that the trial is highly publicized, and the outcome will be an important test for human rights in Turkish society.

- Can you say what you want or not, asks Anna Lindenfors, one of several Amnesty representatives who traveled to Istanbul to hear the judges.

Consequently, convicting convictions would send a strong signal to anyone who wants to use their freedom of expression in Turkey:

- If you do that, you run the risk of ending up in prison, being convicted of terrorist crimes.