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In Turkey, a senior lecturer at Lyon 1 University is judged from this Tuesday for "belonging to a terrorist organization". The Turkish mathematician Tuna Altinel is reproached for participating in a meeting organized in France. He has been detained since May 11 in Balikesir, a city on the shores of the Aegean Sea where this Tuesday's hearing is being held.
With our correspondent in Istanbul , Anne Andlauer
Although he teaches in France, the mathematician Tuna Altinel is a well-known face of the Istanbul courthouse. Before his imprisonment, he went there regularly to support his colleagues, pursued for having, like him, signed in early 2016 a text calling for the cessation of operations of security forces in south-eastern Turkey. In the context of this trial, Tuna Altinel has been tried since the end of February for "terrorist propaganda".
But this is another case for which he is appearing for the first time this Tuesday. This time, the audience is not held in Istanbul but in Balikesir, in northwestern Turkey. And the mathematician is no longer judged for propaganda but for "belonging to a terrorist organization". A much heavier load.
Justice accuses him of having participated and carried out translations during a conference held in Lyon last February by a Kurdish friendly that Ankara accuses of being linked to the Workers' Party of Kurdistan, the PKK, a classified group terrorist .
In Turkey, as in France, Tuna Altinel is supported by her colleagues and students. Buses were chartered to transport dozens of people from Istanbul to Balikesir, 300 kilometers away, and demand the release of the Lyons teacher.