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EU Human Rights Court takes on case of German reporter detained in Turkey: report

The Local Germany
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EU Human Rights Court takes on case of German reporter detained in Turkey: report
Deniz Yücel. Photo: DPA.

The European Court of Human Rights is set to take on the case of a German journalist detained by Turkey for months, the reporter's newspaper wrote on Thursday.

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Lawyers and advocates for German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yücel have been fighting for his release in Turkey since he was detained in February over terror-related allegations. He was accused of spreading terrorist propaganda and inciting hatred after he wrote an article about hacker-obtained emails from energy minister Berat Albayrak, who is also President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law.

Yücel’s newspaper, Die Welt, reported on Thursday that according to the journalist’s lawyer, the European Court of Human Rights is now taking up the case. Yücel had filed a complaint with the court over being held in custody.

According to his lawyer, the court said that the case “would be among the cases that are given priority by the court, and as such will be examined in the shortest possible amount of time”.

The Court makes decisions for the European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, but it also oversees states within the Council of Europe, to which Turkey does belong.

Yücel’s arrest has been one of many growing sources of tension between Germany and Turkey since Erdogan’s crackdown on perceived dissidents following a failed coup attempt last summer.

Chancellor Angela Merkel called Yücel’s detention “bitter and disappointing”.

A second German journalist, Mesale Tolu, was arrested in Istanbul earlier this month, also on terror-related charges.

The German Foreign Ministry demanded access to her, saying her detention was “regrettable”.

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