Germany has accused Turkey of “unacceptable intolerance” towards non-Muslims
The trial has started in eastern Turkey of five men accused of killing three Christians earlier this year. The Christians, who included a pastor and a http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2301 missionary, were stabbed repeatedly and had their throats cut.
The suspects, aged 19 and 20, were detained at the scene of the crime, a Protestant publishing house in Malatya.
The trial was adjourned after defence lawyers argued they needed more time to prepare. The hearing is now expected to resume in mid-January.
Turkey is a candidate for EU membership. The bloc has asked Ankara to protect the human rights of the country’s ethnic and religious minorities, as a precondition for membership. http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2148 has accused Turkey of “unacceptable intolerance” towards non-Muslims.
The murders prompted three Christian families to leave Malatya, in eastern Turkey.
The attack came months after the killing of the ethnic http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2010 journalist Hrant Dink and a year after the killing of a Catholic priest in northern Turkey.
In all cases, the alleged killers were nationalist-minded young men or even teenagers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7108607.stm