Ten young men and a woman, detained over the brutal slaying of three Christian priests in Malatya, eastern Turkey, appeared in court Sunday to face possible murder charges, the Anatolia news agency reported. The 12th suspect, allegedly the leader of the assailants, remains in hospital with a serious head injury after jumping from the third-floor office of a Christian publishing house in Malatya, where two Turks and a German had their throats slit.
The murders were the latest attack on minorities in Turkey following the killings of a Roman Catholic priest last year and an ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in January.
They were expected to be questioned by a prosecutor and then appear before a judge, who may either charge and jail them pending trial, or order their release. One of the suspects allegedly filmed the murders on his mobile telephone.
