MUNICH (Reuters) - Ten people with Turkish and Kurdish backgrounds went on trial in Germany on Friday accused of belonging to a left-wing militant group in Turkey, a case defense lawyers say is politically motivated. The lawyers have told German media that a large part of the files presented in court were supplied by Turkish authorities. Defense lawyers say the trial panders to President Tayyip Erdogan, whose relations with Germany are under strain after the German parliament labeled the 1915 mass killings of Armenians an act of genocide. Left-wing activists chanted "Long live international solidarity" and held up colorful banners outside the court building as the defendants arrived. "It looks like a job on orders from Erdogan," Peer Stolle, who is representing two of the defendants, told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper of Munich, where the trial was being held.

Source: Huffington Post June 17, 2016 14:23 UTC