Christians acquitted of ‘insulting Turkishness’

ISTANBUL, Turkey — After four years of legal battle in a Turkish court, a judge acquitted two Christians of insulting Turkey and its people by spreading Christianity, but not without slapping them with a hefty fine for a spurious charge.

Four years ago, gendarmerie officers produced false witnesses to accuse Turan Topal, 50, and Hakan Tastan, 41, of spreading their faith and allegedly “insulting Turkishness, the military and Islam.” At the Silivri court an hour west of Istanbul, Judge Hayrettin Sevim acquitted the defendants Oct. 14 of two charges that they had insulted the Turkish state (Article 301) and that they had insulted its people (Article 216) by spreading Christianity.

Sevim cited lack of evidence but found them guilty of collecting information on citizens without permission (Article 135). They were sentenced to seven months of imprisonment each, but the court ruled that the two men instead could each pay a $3,170 fine instead of serving time, said their lawyer Haydar Polat. Tastan expressed mixed feelings about the verdicts.

The charge was based on the fact that people interested in Christianity voluntarily provided contact information about themselves to a research center where the two men had worked as volunteers. Their lawyer said they will appeal the unjust conviction.