Germany demands release of boy held in Turkish jail for two months
Germany andTurkey are heading for a diplomatic row after Berlin formally demanded the immediaterelease of a 17-year-old German schoolboy held for more than two months in a Turkish jailallegedly for merely kissing and flirting with a 13-year-old British girl.
MarcoWeiss, from the German town of Uelzen, has been held since early April over allegationsthat he had sexually molested a girl from Manchester, referred to as Charlotte M. Bothwere on holiday in the southern Turkish resort town of Side.
The German mediapublished reports yesterday that Marco was being held in a jail with a single lavatory,which he had to share with about 30 other prisoners, in the town of Antalya. He waswaiting to appear before a court at a hearing which had been postponed until 6 July.
His parents, who were in Antalya, said that they were allowed to see their sononly once a week, when they were separated from him by a glass screen. The Germangovernment issued a diplomatic note to Turkey demanding the schoolboy's immediate releasefrom prison. Peter Struck, the family's MP, said: "I am shocked by the conditions underwhich he is being held and by the way that this matter is being dealt with by the Turkishauthorities. He should be released immediately."
German reports said that the13-year-old British girl's mother had demanded that police intervene and arrest Marco.They said she was seeking to prosecute the boy on charges that he had sexually molestedher daughter.
However, the boy's parents insisted that their son had merelykissed and flirted with the girl, who had claimed to be 15 years old. They said her14-year-old sister was on the balcony of the same hotel room at the time.
Therewas no immediate Turkish government response to Germany's demands. However, an editorialin the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet said the German government was "insulting the Turkishjustice system".
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2705318.ece (Archiv-Version vom 27.06.2007)jetzt hat diebritische Presse den Fall entdeckt. Bin mal gespannt was los ist wenn SUN etc. draufaufspringen. Dann wird es sicher noch ein paar pikante "Knutschdetails" geben.