Ankara, Turkey - A prosecutor demanded life in prison for five men charged with killing three Christians at a publishing house that produces Bibles in southern Turkey, the state run news agency reported.
The trial of the five suspects opened Friday, providing another closely scrutinized test of Turkey's judiciary as it seeks membership in the European Union. Observers want to see how Turkey's courts handle signs of religious intolerance in the predominantly Muslim nation.
The five men are accused of killing a German man and two Turks at a Christian publishing house in the city of Malatya. They were charged with "establishing a terror organization and multiple killings," Anatolia said. Two other suspects, who remain free pending a verdict, face lesser charges.
Security was tight at the courthouse in Malatya, where the trial opened Friday, Anatolia news agency said. The trial was quickly adjourned until Jan. 14, as defense attorneys asked for time to prepare their arguments, Anatolia reported. Earlier, the Dogan news agency said defense attorneys were not present.
The April 18 killings — in which the victims were tied up and had their throats slit — drew international condemnation and added to Western concerns about whether Turkey can protect its religious minorities.
The German victim, Tilmann Geske, 46, had lived in Turkey for a decade.
His wife, Susanne Geske, who attended Friday's opening hearing along with several foreign diplomats, said: "I believe in justice and the secular system in this country," Anatolia reported.
Earlier, she said her husband had invited people into his home for Bible study, taught English and German, and helped send Turkish children to school abroad. The couple lived with their three young children in Malatya, members of a tiny Christian community numbering less than 20.
In Turkey, Christians and other non-Muslims make up less than 1 percent of the population of 71 million. Susan Geske has said her husband was sensitive to his Muslim neighbors and was not one to push his faith on others.
Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a human rights lawyer who represented one of the slain Christians, Necati Aydin, 26, in an earlier court case, claimed on Friday that the victims were widely targeted in the local media for their work, Anatolia reported. Aydin was charged with insulting Islam and spent a month in jail after he was found distributing Bibles in the Aegean city of Izmir.
Christian leaders have said they are worried that nationalists are stoking hostility against non-Turks and non-Muslims by exploiting uncertainty over Turkey's place in the world.
The uncertainty — and growing suspicion against foreigners — has been driven by the faltering EU membership bid, a resilient Kurdish separatist movement and by increasingly vocal Islamists who see themselves — and Turkey — as locked in battle with a hostile Christian West.