A Turkish teen will spend more than 10 years in prison for killing a Catholic priest as the man knelt in prayer, state-run media reported Thursday. The 16-year-old, identified only as O.A., had pleaded guilty to shooting the Rev. Andrea Santoro at a church in the Black Sea port city of Trabzon in February 2006.The killing occurred at a time of widespread anger in the Islamic world over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
The teen was sentenced to more than 18 years in prison — a decision upheld Thursday, the news agency Anatolia said. However, legal experts said he will not serve the entire sentence and is expected to be released after about 10 years.
| Is this because the Turks are adopting a Y'urp-peon penal code which forbids imprisoning people for longer than 10 years (because it's cruel and unusual, you know), or is the kid getting a break because, after all, he only murdered an infidel? |