German rights activist Peter Steudtner acquitted of terror-related charges in Turkey
A court in Istanbul acquitted seven human rights activists accused of terrorism-related charges on Friday, including German rights activist Peter Steudtner.
German citizen Steudtner and Swedish national Ali Gharavi were acquitted of all charges, although four other rights activists were handed jail sentences.
Amnesty International’s former Turkey head Taner Kilic was senteced to six years and three months for allegedly being a member of a terrorist organization.
The Turkish government had accused the activists of “aiding and arming terrorist organizations” through civil society actions in Turkey, as well as being members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Gulen movement.
The controversial case has strained relations between Turkey and its Western allies, particularly Germany.
Ten of the defendants were arrested in mid-2017 during a raid on a human rights training workshop on the island of Buyukada, near Istanbul. Kilic was detained a month later and added to the case. The 11, who are no longer in custody, have always maintained their innocence. Steudtner returned to Germany in October 2017.
The group is among tens of thousands of people who have been rounded up in Turkey amid a widespread crackdown that followed a coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July 2016. Ankara blames the network of US-based Islamist cleric Fethullah Gulen for the failed putsch, and has already prosecuted thousands alleged to have links to him.
Read more: Fethullah Gulen, the man behind the myth
Lack of evidence
Turkey’s public prosecutor requested at the end of last year that four of the defendants, including Steudtner, be acquitted over lack of evidence, according to documents seen by German press agency dpa. But convictions were sought for five other defendants on terrorism charges. They face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty.
Human rights organization Amnesty International has slammed the trial as “politically motivated” and called for the acquittal of all defendants.
“This verdict matters, not just to these 11 women and men and their families but to everyone who values human rights, in Turkey and beyond,” Amnesty Europe director Nils Muiznieks said in a statement.
nm/rs (dpa, AFP)
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