TURKEY SENTENCES PRIEST’S KIDNAPPERS TO 15 YEARS

Nov 11 2008
Turkey

The kidnappers had sought a ransom of 300,000 euros ($189,000),
the documents said.

A Turkish court sentenced four men to 15 years in prison on Tuesday
for kidnapping a Syriac Christian priest in southeast Turkey.

Court documents said the priest was tied up in a basement for several
days after assailants ambushed his car as he travelled to the Mor
Yakup monastery near the town of Midyat in the province of Mardin.

The kidnappers had sought a ransom of 300,000 euros ($189,000),
the documents said.

The priest was released unharmed as an operation was launched to
rescue him.

Three Christians, two Turks and a German, had their throats slit by
youths who burst into their Bible publishing house in the southeastern
town of Malatya last year.

Turkish Armenian writer Hrant Dink was also slain last year in Istanbul
by a young nationalist gunman.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress