Turkey: 5 jailed for life in missionary murder case

By Volkan Kasik

MALATYA, Turkey

A Turkish court on Wednesday sentenced five people to aggravated life imprisonment for the murders of three Christians working at a Bible publishing house in 2007.

Three Christian members of staff, including a German national, working for the Zirve Publishing House were stabbed in the throat during an attack on the premises in the eastern province Malatya on April 18, 2007.

Malatya First High Criminal Court handed out the aggravated life sentences to the suspects, Emre Gunaydin, Abuzer Yildirim, Hamit Ceker, Salih Gurler and Cuma Ozdemir, convicting them of premeditated murder.

The court also acquitted 16 suspects, including retired Full General Hursit Tolon, of the charge of being a member of a terrorist organization.

Tolon, who had been remanded in connection with the case, was released on bail in June 2014.

Meanwhile, retired Colonel Mehmet Ulger was sentenced to 13 years 9 months in jail for "violation of confidentiality of communication and forgery of official documents".

Tolon and Ulger were detained on March 17, 2011 after the murder case was included within the scope of Ergenekon coup plot trial in March 2011.

Ergenekon case probed into an alleged shadowy network of hardline nationalists who were accused of plotting to overthrow the government.