Ankara, Turkey - Turkey’s judiciary facing a test over how its handles religious intolerance has started the process of trying five suspects accused of killing five Christians amid accusations that the prosecution is more interested in looking into Christian missionary activities rather than the murder cases.
A prosecutor in the eastern city of Malatya demanded life in prison for five men charged with killing three Christians at a publishing house that produces Bibles.
The trial of the five suspects opened Friday.
On 18 April, Tilman Ekkhart Geske, Necati Aydin and Ugur Yüksel were murdered in their office in Malatya. They worked for Zirve Publications, which publishes books relating to Christianity.
The five men are accused of killing the Christians. They were charged with "establishing a terror organization and multiple killings." 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. The trial was quickly adjourned until Jan. 14, as defense attorneys asked for time to prepare their arguments claiming they did not have enough time to study the charges.
The 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.
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."
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. 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 uneasy EU membership bid, a persistent Kurdish separatist movement and by increasingly vocal Islamist hardliners who see themselves — and Turkey — as locked in battle with a hostile Christian West.
Missionary activities scrutinized
Critics said judging from the 32 investigation files it seems that the investigation has focused on "missionary activities" rather than the murders. Seven or eight of the folders are concerned with the murder, while the others focus on missionary work.
For instance, the files take note of the people the three murdered men met with since 2005, and gives a detailed account of their activities. The same attention to detail has not been displayed in the reports on the murder suspects.
The five of the defendants who have been in detention since the attack; they are accused of “founding and being members of a terrorist group”, “killing people as part of the terrorist activities”, and “depriving people of their freedom”. Emre G., Salih G., Cuma Ö., Abuzer Y. and Hamit C. are the five detained defendants.
Kürsat K. and Mehmet G. who are free face charges of “being members of an armed organization.” The indictment calls for prison sentences from five to ten years.
Further suspects M.T., A.K., M.U., M.Ö. and T.I. have also been released from detention but will be tried, too.
Emre G. was found at the scene of crime immediately after the murder and tried to escape by jumping out of a third-floor window. After receiving treatment for his injuries, he has been in detention and is accused of planning the attack. Under Article 314/1 of the Turkish Penal Code, the “leadership of an armed organization” is to be punished with ten to fifteen years imprisonment. Under Article 82/1-a, which refers to the “planned, deliberate killing of a person”, the indictment is calling for three life sentences in solitary confinement for each of the five detained suspects.
According to the indictment written by Malatya Public Prosecutors Mehmet Badem and Omer Tetik, the five detained suspects will also be punished for violating the immunity of the work place.