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Turkey frees five charged over 2007 murders of Christian missionaries
12:29 ¢ 09.03.14
A Turkish court has freed five men accused of torturing and murdering
three Christian missionaries in 2007, after the suspects' time in
detention while on trial exceeded new legal limits, the Hurriyet Daily
News reports.
The men walked free from their high-security prison in the eastern
city of Malatya on March 7, DoÄ?an News Agency reported.
German missionary Tilmann Geske and Turkish converts Necati Aydın and
UÄ?ur Yüksel had their throats slit in the Zirve Publishing House in
April 2007 after being tied up and interrogated about missionary
activities.
The three victims were members of the city's tiny Protestant
community. The trial of the five men accused of the attack is still
going on seven years later.
Under a new law passed by the Turkish parliament last month, the
detention limit for suspects on trial who have not yet been convicted
was lowered to five years, paving the way for the five accused to be
released on bail.
The murders at the time fuelled fear among Turkey's tiny Christian
minorities and raised concern over rising nationalism and hostility
towards non-Muslims in Turkey, a mainly Muslim country seeking
European Union membership.
Armenian News - Tert.am
12:29 ¢ 09.03.14
A Turkish court has freed five men accused of torturing and murdering
three Christian missionaries in 2007, after the suspects' time in
detention while on trial exceeded new legal limits, the Hurriyet Daily
News reports.
The men walked free from their high-security prison in the eastern
city of Malatya on March 7, DoÄ?an News Agency reported.
German missionary Tilmann Geske and Turkish converts Necati Aydın and
UÄ?ur Yüksel had their throats slit in the Zirve Publishing House in
April 2007 after being tied up and interrogated about missionary
activities.
The three victims were members of the city's tiny Protestant
community. The trial of the five men accused of the attack is still
going on seven years later.
Under a new law passed by the Turkish parliament last month, the
detention limit for suspects on trial who have not yet been convicted
was lowered to five years, paving the way for the five accused to be
released on bail.
The murders at the time fuelled fear among Turkey's tiny Christian
minorities and raised concern over rising nationalism and hostility
towards non-Muslims in Turkey, a mainly Muslim country seeking
European Union membership.
Armenian News - Tert.am