this is the deputy news live from berlin after a year in any turkish prison without being tried or charged turkish german journalist denis you chel has been released and his wife was there to meet him but six others get life sentences and more than one hundred still remain in jail as turkey's crackdown on the press continues. also coming up russian meddling u.s. special prosecutor robert muller charges thirteen russians been plotting to interfere in the twenty sixteen presidential election we will go live to washington.

i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program thanks for joining us the turkish german journalist denis you chel has been freed after a year in a turkish prison but on the same day six turkish journalists have been jailed for life for their alleged involvement in the failed coup in twenty six. as for you child he is free for now but he is still facing charges in turkey accused of spreading terrorist propaganda and prosecutors are seeking a jail term of up to eighteen years as part of what has been a major crackdown on free speech in the country for the time being however his supporters in germany and his family are celebrating. and you know what germany's foreign minister was the bearer of good news and yeah i think yes it's

a good day and then issued a challenge free speech on its way to estimate the point from the speaking at a press conference at the headquarters of dennis you tells a lawyer of the german daily developed gabriele told reporters that you just release was a victory for diplomacy. we talked extensively to our turkish partners yes that started with me asking former chancellor gerhard schroeder to open the doors for us in this time the two of should i went there twice for us. it was always of particular importance for the turkish government not to politically influence the court decision not to infringe on the independence of the court and it's because it's but they did agree to help the process and turkey make good on that promise and i'm particularly grateful to turkish foreign minister for that. earlier in the day this photograph of

dennis you just released from jail was posted by his lawyer he joe in the arms of his wife after a year behind bars german chancellor angela merkel was one of his first well wishers me feel if you know as many other people i'm very glad that he was able to leave prison today i am of course happy for him and his wife and his family who had to endure a very difficult year of separation. and also. one year ago dennis you cho was detained in istanbul turkish authorities accused the correspondent for the german daily developed of terrorist propaganda among other things but until today he had not been charged with any crime the german government campaigned vigorously for the release of the child as well as other journalists imprisoned in turkey many civilian organizations also demonstrated for his release

it is very likely the turkish president is behind the decision he joe may have been released from jail but in their indictment turkish prosecutors have demanded up to eighteen years imprisonment. and a short while ago we spoke with t w political correspondent oliver salat about what you chose release means for ties between alcoa and berlin. well this all came as a very big surprise first of all and it's highly appreciated as you can imagine the german government today expressed big relief here from all sides from all different participants here of the negotiations the german chancellor sounded very much relieved and it came very surprising because just yesterday as julia said we followed the prime minister yield the rooms visit here to berlin and we could really feel how tense the fear was and how strained the relations are between the two countries the german chancellor angela merkel said they were at

a historic low in fact and b. in spite we had we had signs of reconciliation there by yielder him nobody really expected this to happen this so quickly so people are politicians are happy about his release of course but at the same time the government keeps stressing that there are certain other german citizens still in custody there and the whole human rights situation in turkey has not changed at this point so this is more or less regarded as a first step in improving the german turkish relationship but the whole past turkey is going under president to one it seemed fairly critical until this point and so the bottom line is that turkey needs to step up its effort in improving the situation. that was the happiest oliver salad at berlin a short while ago a u.s. grand jury has indicted thirteen russian nationals and three russian companies for alleged meddling in the twenty sixteen presidential election deputy attorney

general rod rosenstein announced the charges at the justice department said that the defendants conducted in formation warfare with the goal of sowing discord in the us political system the charges include conspiracy fraud identity theft and the indictment was brought by the office of special counsel robert muller which is overseeing the probe into alleged russian meddling in the twenty sixteen vote. for more let's bring in our correspondent in washington alexandra phenomenon alexandra a lot of people in the united states watching waiting to see what the first charges of robert mueller would be now we have that we have these dozens of pages of this indictment detailing this russian operation to influence the u.s. election what are we to make of it. well it is indeed a very sensitive eighteen court document and we have never seen this level of

details so we are talking here sort of evidence that there has been indeed russian meddling in the elections the indictment or according to these indictments thirteen russian citizens and three russian entities committed federal crimes in order to saw to in order to undermine the public trust in the political system in order to interfere in a very interesting and we'll known in this name in this document it is the name of guinea pro goes in it is a russian oligarch who is said to be member of the kremlin's inner circle and according to the indictments he is the one who has found an

organization in theaters book who is accused of trying to interfere in the u.s. election so it seems as if it goes up to the highest of levels there alexandra and just you know to keep in mind russian meddling in the twenty sixteen election this was really the fundamental crime that robert mueller was charged with investigating given that we've now seen these charges brought what does it tell us about where he is with the investigation and whether or not any other shoes might drop. yes we have to remember that he is not only investigating the russian meddling in the election we have also the question the wherever that might have been obstruction of justice when we talk about the president's decision to fly the former f.b.i. director comey so he is continuing his investigation and we can

see that this investigation can lead to quite interesting results alexander phenomena our washington bureau chief thank you so much. nato secretary general younes stoltenberg has called for maximum pressure to force north korea to abandon its nuclear missile program but he said that should be done using diplomatic means and economic sanctions. at the annual munich security conference he also said that while he supported the european union expanding its defense capabilities it should avoid duplicating the alliance's efforts. political correspondent melinda crane is covering the conference. and i'm joined now by nato secretary general again starting back and you said in your speech very interesting that after grex it eighty percent of nato's budget will be borne by nine european

members in other words the european countries are very dependent in particular on turkey and the u.s. the two biggest players are the europeans really stepping up to the plate they say they're doing more but is it enough european hours are knowledge stepping up i welcome the efforts of the utopian union to strengthen their defense cooperation that is important and is also very good the european allies among them germany on all investing more in defense but this is not on the china tip tonight this is something that is going to complement nato and strengthen the the boy strengthen the european pillar within nato because eighty percent of they pose defense expenditure will come from an old e.u. nato allies salut is no way we can dealing. e.u. security or security for european allies from nato on the north atlantic but now

two of those nine european countries currently stand on opposite sides of a conflict and i'm referring of course to turkey and the us you mentioned this is well in your remarks turkey attacking the kurds in northern syria kurds who were trained and were and cooperated with by the united states how concerned are you about this conflict between two nato member countries. we are concerned about the sufficiency. where hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed and millions have been forced to flee and the way we have a very difficult situation then turkey and united states and germany and all nato allies who wrote together in the global coalition to defeat isis so we have worked together and achieved a lot so the challenge now is of course what we see in northern syria. there nato is not present on the ground in order in syria united states is and turkey is

i welcome that they have died of contact and all that sector mathis met with his his counterpart the turkish defense minister during the nato defense ministers and also that secretary tillerson met an uncle so. the important thing is to make sure that turkey and not the states have died contact and they have and then turkey also briefed all nato allies turkey has some legitimate because security concerns have suffered more toes attacks than any other nato ally but they have to respond in a proportionate and measured way. you are so mentioned you are strong concern about north korea and the threat of nuclear confrontation and you called for maximum pressure to be put on north korea including by european countries the fact is north korea is really only interested in the united states what more can be done what is that maximum pressure you called for. we need stronger economic

sanctions and the united states is member of the security council. all the nato allies and the russia and china and we need them to agree on the. effect of economic sanctions and i welcome the fact that the u.n. security council actually agreed to increase the economic sanctions and also the fact that we see that the sanctions are now to a large extent implemented which means most of the sanctions. have an impact on north korea all the alternative to a maximum pressure with political means diplomatic means on economic sanctions install other use military force that will be reviewed dangerous or to do nothing which are which will also be dangerous so the only viable atomic alternative is to continue to work for a peaceful negotiated solution but for north korea to accept that we need to put

pressure on them and that's exactly what they're doing at times president trump and even some other members of his administration have indicated that a resort to force might be an option is that an option for you. as the united states supports the efforts of find a political solution and united states is key in. implementing and agreeing their comic sanctions in the u.n. security council. at the same time of course united states has the right to defend itself if it is attacked and this is attack the tyrants on the terence's the way nato house responded to tried strong ballistic missiles for decades that was the way. the turgid of the soviet union due to cold war and that's in fact the same we do today sending term as such as we have there is sold on the capability of the cape because to respond if we are attacked. thank you very much secretary general

started back. and that was the nato secretary general speaking a short while ago with he is willing to train a phonemic security conference i'm sorry kelly today thanks for watching t.v. . climate change. waste. pollution. time for good. to go at africa people and projects that are changing the parent for the better it's up to us to make a difference. on d w.