On February 25, lawyers representing the families of three Christians brutally killed in eastern Turkey last April demanded the three-judge panel hearing the case be replaced.

According to Compass Direct News, “Addressing the Malatya Third Criminal Court, plaintiff lawyer Ozkan Yucel Soylu, declared that the ‘impartiality and independence’ of the court was in jeopardy. Soylu told the presiding justice, Eray Gurtekin, and his associates that their repeated refusals to grant the plaintiff legal team’s procedural requests were obstructing justice in the high-profile murder case.”

The report added, “Soylu objected to the court’s refusal to grant access to the killers’ computer records, photographs from the autopsies and crime scene and security camera films from one suspect’s hospital room.”

On April 18, 2007, five Muslims entered a Christian publishing company and killed three believers in the southeastern province of Malatya. Two of the victims, Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, were Turkish converts from Islam and the third man, Tilmann Geske, was a German citizen who had lived in Turkey for 10 years. News reports said four of the attackers admitted that the killings were motivated by both “nationalist and religious feelings.”

Pray the Lord will encourage them as the trial continues. Ask God’s will be done during the deliberations and for judges who will interpret the law without any bias. Pray Turkish Muslims will come to know Christ personally as the story of these three martyrs for Christ is told in court and in the Turkish media.