Istanbul nightclub attack trial gets underway

The man accused of killing 39 people in a New Year's Eve gun attack on an Istanbul nightclub went on trial Monday.

Abdulkadir Masharipov is among 57 defendants being tried in connection with the attack on the Reina nightclub on the banks of the Bosphorus less than a year ago.

He is said to have killed a security guard before opening fire on revelers with an AK-47 assault rifle and throwing grenades in the early hours of Jan. 1. The attack was later claimed by Daesh terrorist organization.

In the opening hearing at Istanbul's Silivri prison complex, Judge Abdurrahman Orkun Dag warned Masharipov against "showing off" during the trial.

Masharipov, an Uzbek national, complained that he had yet to meet his lawyer and declined to give his defense until he did.

He faces 40 aggravated life sentences on charges of murder, "membership of an armed terrorist organization", weapons possession and "attempting to destroy constitutional order".

All but six of the defendants, who include Masharipov's wife Zarina Nurullayeva, are being held in custody.

Masharipov, aged 34 at the time of the attack, was arrested after a 17-day manhunt in the residential Istanbul neighborhood of Esenyurt.

He told investigators he had received orders for the attack from Raqqah, which served as Daesh's de facto capital in Syria at the time.

The fatalities included 27 foreigners and 79 people were wounded.