After a four-year legal battle in a Turkish court, a judge acquitted two Christians of insulting Turkey and its people by spreading Christianity, but not without punishing them with a hefty fine of USD 3,170 (DKK 16,777) each for a false accusation. Four years ago, police produced false witnesses to accuse Turan Topal, 50, and Hakan Tastan, 41, of spreading their faith and allegedly "insulting Turkishness, the military and Islam."
In the court in Silivri, west of Istanbul, Judge Hayrettin Sevim acquitted the defendants in October on two charges: insulting the Turkish state (§301) and insulting their own countrymen (§216) by spreading the Christian faith. Sevim cited for lack of evidence. He found them guilty of collecting information about citizens without permission (§135). They were each sentenced to seven months in prison, but the court ruled that the two men could each pay a (US $ 3,170) fine instead of serving time, their lawyer Haydar Polat said.
Tastan expressed mixed feelings about the verdicts. "For both Turan and me being acquitted of the charge of insulting the Turkish people was the most important thing for us because we have always said that we are proud to be Turkish," Tastan said over the phone. "But it was unfair that they convicted us of collecting information about people." The charge was based on the fact that people interested in Christianity voluntarily gave contact information about themselves to a research center where the two men had worked as volunteers. Their lawyer said they will appeal the unjust sentence. (CompassDirect/Danish European Mission)
