BERLIN, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- German journalist Deniz Yuecel has filed a lawsuit against the Turkish government demanding financial compensation for his recent imprisonment in the country, Yuecel's attorney Veysel Ok announced on Thursday.
Ok told the German press agency (dpa) that his client was seeking a payment of roughly 400,000 euros (468,000 U.S. dollar) from Ankara. The sum was calculated on the basis of lost income, legal costs and compensation for unlawful detention of the "WELT" newspaper correspondent for over a year between February 2017 and February 2018. "The government and the court must pay a price for this injustice", Ok said.
According to the Turkish state news agency Anadolu, Yuecel's release was ordered in response to the official filing of charges by the Istanbul State Prosecution Office against him for "propaganda for a terrorist organization" and "sedition." The prosecutors demand a prison sentence of between four and 18 years for the defendant.
Throughout his year in custody, Yuecel had been waiting in vain for the start of a formal judicial process in what his lawyer described as "inhumane detention conditions". Turkish authorities stressed after he was freed that there had been "no political involvement" in the case which was being handled in line with "national principles of law."
The imprisonment of the journalist in the wake of a failed military coup against Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan 2016 had weighed heavily on traditionally close relations between Ankara and Berlin. Following Yuecel's release, Germany's then foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) thanked the Turkish government "explicitly for their support in speeding up the trial."
Nevertheless, attorney Ok told dpa on Thursday that Yuecel wanted to set a precedent for other journalists who had been taken into custody "illegally and without proper proof" in Turkey during recent years. The first hearing of the lawsuit is expected to take place on Sept. 25.
Additionally, Yuecel´s attorney said that his client would turn to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) should Turkish authorities refuse to compensate him for being jailed.
