Turkish authorities have arrested the cafeteria manager of the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper for insulting the president after he said he would not serve tea to Tayyip Erdogan, one of the manager's lawyers told Reuters on Monday. Senol Buran, who runs the cafeteria at the Istanbul office of Cumhuriyet, was taken into custody after police raided his home late on Saturday, lawyer Ozgur Urfa said. The newspaper is among the few still critical of the government. Insulting the president is a crime punishable by up to four years in prison in Turkey.
[...] Buran was detained after a police officer providing security for the newspaper said he heard him use a derogatory term to describe Erdogan and say he would refuse to serve the president tea if he ever visited the cafeteria, his lawyer said. According to court documents obtained by Reuters, Buran has denied using an insulting term, while confirming that he had said he would refuse to serve the president tea. He also said he had a dispute with the police officer two years ago.
The judge at an Istanbul court on Sunday ordered Buran's arrest pending trial, citing "strong suspicion of crime committed" and saying the suspect might otherwise put pressure on witnesses, the documents showed.
Previously: Turkey's Erdogan Continues Crackdown on Media with Detention of Cumhuriyet Newspaper Staff (same newspaper)
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @09:30AM
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(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday December 29 2016, @12:28PM
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