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Religious group leader critical of government put in pretrial detention

Alparslan Kuytul, president of the Furkan Foundation and leader of a religious group critical of the Turkish government, has been put in pre-trial detention along with 4 others by an Adana court, Turkish media reported on Friday.

Kuytul and 25 members of the foundation were detained at the end of January by counterterrorism police on suspicion of disrupting the public order and establishing a criminal organization.

Police also raided the foundation’s branches in the Central Anatolian province of Niğde and the eastern province of Elazığ.

Kuytul is in addition facing charges of insulting the president and inciting the public to hatred in two other investigations in which he faces seven years in jail.

The Adana Penal Court of First Instance on Feb. 2 appointed a trustee to administer the foundation.

Since a failed coup on July 15, 2016, trustees have been appointed to hundreds of companies and dozens of municipalities and foundations due to these institutions’ alleged terror or coup links.

(Part of this report appeared on Turkey Purge)

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