Forty-six suspects - one third of them Russian nationals - went on trial Monday in connection with last year's triple suicide bombing of Istanbul's main airport, an attack that killed 45 people. Among the killed were 19 foreigners.
State-run Anadolu news agency said 42 of the accused, who had been under arrest, appeared in court at Silivri, outside İstanbul, in a hearing due to last four days. The other four suspects remain at large.
They are accused of "attempting to destroy the constitutional order" and "murder", state-run Anadolu news agency reported. They are also charged with "membership of an armed terror group" and "forming and running a terror group," said the indictment.
Sixteen of the accused are Russian nationals and the others are Chechen, Tunisian, Egyptian, Algerian, Syrian and Turkish.
Three gunmen strapped with suicide belts rampaged through Istanbul's Ataturk Airport in June last year before blowing themselves up, killing 45 people and injuring 163 others. No group claimed credit for the attack, but Turkish authorities said it was directed and organized by the Islamic State.
