Teen freed after making death threats on pastor

SAMSUN, Turkey — A Turkish judge set a teenager free Jan. 6 in the Black Sea coastal city of Samsun. The teenager had confessed to making death threats against a pastor and his church, and he was released a day after authorities arrested him. Judge Sinan Sonmez of Samsun’s First Minor Petty Offenses Court ruled that 17-year-old Semih Seymen be freed “because of his youth.” Seymen told police he called Pastor Orhan Picaklar of Samsun Agape Church several times beginning Dec. 29, threatening to kill him. In an official protest filed Jan. 8 at the Samsun court, Picaklar objected to the decision to release the defendant.
“The defendant openly confessed,” Picaklar said. “He said he was going to do a massacre tomorrow. The police heard him say this over the telephone, but because he is ‘underage’ he is set free?”