this is deja vu news live from berlin once a diplomat now branded a terrorist this former turkish naval officer was caught up in the purge following the attempted coup two years ago in turkey now he lives in belgium where he's been forced into exile and speaks exclusively to de w. also coming up the u.s. imposes new sanctions on russia in the case of the poison the excess body and his daughter how will this affect president trump's efforts to improve relations with the kremlin we'll get the latest from washington. and bell are also arrests

journalists among them w.'s correspondent paul york because he could be the beginning of a crackdown on the media there. i'm dr thomas thanks so much for joining us we're starting this program with the story of a former officer of the turkish navy now living as a refugee in belgium now this man is one of thousands of military personnel purged by the turkish government for allegedly taking part in the failed coup two years ago many other officers like him have been accused of terrorism and are now behind bars in turkey in this exclusive report terry scholz talks with the former turkish officer and former nato diplomat who fears he could be snatched up at any time by turkish government agents. peaceful days with his family are something former

turkish naval officer just for talking wasn't sure he'd ever happen again after president relative tie a pair to one accused of the then lieutenant commander and most other officer stationed at nato of supporting the two thousand and sixteen coup took korea was imprisoned but escaped several months ago and returned to brussels where he tried to stay under the turkish government's radar until now either side the talk on behalf of me. for those who can't meet the press will come with the journalists who can't meet their lawyers you know that they are in prison. they can't prove their innocence i have to talk on behalf of took a as ordeal began three months after the coup when he was lured from brussels back to under the guise of an urgent meeting instead his former turkish military colleagues had him arrested and thrown into jail for more than sixteen months

turning him overnight from a high ranking international diplomat with nato top security clearance to a so-called terrorist one of almost two hundred thousand people swept up in the massive purges ordered by air to one after the coup attempt top player was accused of being a follower of exiled islamist leader to the glenn who heir to one blames for instigating the coup he was also charged with insulting air to one on twitter the officer says the claims are absurd that he has no religious or political ties and never had a twitter account at that point a prosecutor even brought up his nato appointment as an allegation against him being progress to improve nato is a big crime in three q no. he fled while on a temporary release from prison and awaiting trial tokyo says he witnessed terrible things while being held extreme physical and mental torture of people he's convinced he did nothing wrong now topped does have a two. her account and he's using it to share these stories sparking

a backlash from the government controlled media in turkey which call him a traitor i feel relieved with it to me and i know. the bad guys are afraid of it took a as family supports his risky decision even after everything they suffered his wife miscued is nervous about telling their story but agrees it's the right thing to do other purged nato officers however feel they must stay in the shadows as threats from continue one of them tells me in a written statement he fears turkish intelligence will snatch to shut him up. long arm is everywhere they try to find a live report on what we do and if they get orders they carry them out. talk is giving way to fear in bold and the autocrats what courage is innocent

people. being or so we are. we are on the right we should be more just the belgian government supports him on the same day you spoke with he received word that belgium has granted him refugee status protection from the government he thought he would serve all his life. it's to argentina now where that country's senate has rejected a contentious bill to legalize elective abortions. lawmakers voted by a margin of thirty eight to thirty one against nature after some fifteen hours of heated debate the bill would have legalized abortion up to the fourteenth week of pregnancy. thousands of anti-abortion activists cheered the news outside the congress in buenos aires but many of the bill's backers launched angry protests before police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse. the united

states a sitting russia with new sanctions and connection with the poisoning of a former russian double agent and his daughter britain the state department says it is convinced that moscow was responsible former russian spy sergei scribble on his daughter yulia are believed to have been exposed to know we're talking a military grade nerve agent in the english salzburg britain is accused russia of being behind the attack which the kremlin dies last month to other people came across the container believed to have been used to transport the poison one of them died. more on this story i'm joined by our washington d.c. correspondent stuff good morning to you stefan why are these sanctions coming now has there been new evidence against russia as the evidence firmed up against moscow . very good question and the answer will might disappoint you because so far nobody is actually aware or state department white house or trumpet who's tracing as a whole has not come out with exactly that saying that there is new hard evidence it

is fair to assume that what the british intelligence and british authorities communicated to us still holds and don't forget congress us congress had asked the trumpet ministration within two months time to determine if russia violated international law all and no it took the trumpet administration or the us government more than two months actually two and a half months plus to determine and to make this determination and this is why those sanctions are following suit right now they will be rolled out into trenches and are expected to implement to be implemented around twenty second of august ok now twenty second of august is the date for these sanctions but there are more even tougher sanctions in the works right now can you tell us what they look like. right those so there's sanctions package comes into trenchers the first one is what we're talking about now and that targets so-called dual use technologies those are

technologies which could be used in civil to civil purposes and military purposes by russia which just sold by the u.s. to russia however those permissions to export those technologies would have been approved on a base to base. on of. bases when it happens. but is it fair to assume that this will be denied the second tranche is actually the one which could really hurt russia even more because this targets exports and that could actually even involve flights from air flights from russia to the united states young and that installment could sanctions could hit the russian oil industry hard as well now a step in the trump administration had been embarking on its own form of detente with russia is that now over or is it done and dusted. well that's a really really tough question

a really good one though it too because he is the thing while the mean while the trump administration place some say some say hardball with the with russia right now following the he and the u.s. seen as miserable performance largely miserable for months of mr the president of mr trump in helsinki trump himself the president himself as many observers still recognize are striving to warm up relationships with russia and with putin you are aware that there is standing invitations which then have to be had to be pulled back but then we were renewed so publicly from the president himself nothing against putin all russia of course insists that he is the toughest president ever in terms of the relations with russia in terms of sanctions but again this is a two to tale story here in washington d.c. when it comes to this ok we'll be following the cell as it progresses and moves

forward stuff and for now thanks very much. now for a look at some of the other stories making the news around the world this hour a powerful aftershock has struck the indonesian province of long ball the six point two magnitude tremor is the strongest of hundreds of other aftershocks that have hit the area since the deadly quake on sunday officials say the death toll from sunday's quake has now risen risen to two hundred twenty seven tens of thousands of people remain homeless. japanise marked seventy three years since the u.s. atomic bombing of nagasaki in the closing days of world war two u.n. secretary general on tonio good terrorists laid a wreath in tribute to the victims the bombing took place three days after the u.s. targeted and killed some seventy thousand people there. hundreds of migrant workers in southern italy have staged marj to bring attention to their poor working and living conditions a protest was sparked by the death of sixteen farm workers in two recent road

accidents to see the trucks used to transport tomato pickers to the fields are often overcrowded and unsaid. it's developer us now where police have arrested a number of journalists on suspicion of illegally accessing information from the country's state run news agency local rights groups are saying these arrests are part of a government drive to muzzle independent media among those detained is d.w. freelance correspondent paul york because his apartment in minsk was searched for two hours by police w. has launched a protest with belarus and bassett are here in berlin demanding his immediate release. the arrests followed the police search of several private news outlets reporters without borders told d.w. quote that the raids and the confiscation of computers and other devices suggests that these arrests are political in nature. our moscow correspondent

emily sure one's following the story for us she has more on the allegations against every of correspondent paul you because and his colleagues. well in the case of because the author already actually gave no official reason for their arrest and. his wife told g w that authorities initially said when they came to search the apartment that they were actually just searching the address. that address as a whole that they weren't actually directing the searches at the journalist directly and initially because he was treated as a witness in this case rather than as a suspect in this case against journalists in belarus authorities did however say that it was connected to the arrests of other journalists and bella ruse and they are accused of on lawfully accessing information on the state news agency which essentially means they they're accused of not having a proper subscription to that news agency now because kim self has said that he

hasn't recently used that resource at all ok what is the state of the press freedom . your are journalists able to go out and do their jobs without fear of retaliation without fear of arrest. well the short answer brian is no has been ruled by authority and the leader. since one thousand nine hundred four he's been known or been called europe's last dictator and reporters without borders ranks press freedom in the country is really really low on their world press world press freedom and x. . one hundred fifty fifth out of one hundred eighty countries so really not a good rating and even though the. the author is in belarus say that this case has nothing to do with press freedom human rights activists disagree and because he's

wife as well has said that this is a move against independent journalism in belarus showing the story in belarus from moscow for stories and so very much though. if you are a modern now of our top stories this hour the u.s. has announced new sanctions on russia in connection with the poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter in britain the u.s. state department saying moscow have use of chemical weapon in violation of international law a charge the crime one denies. the argentinean senate has narrowly rejected a bill to legalize abortion thousands of anti-abortion activists cheered the news outside the congress in buenos aires but others launched angry protests. or don't forget you can always get news on the go download our app for example from google play or from the apple store that gives you access to all the latest news and information from around the world as well as push notifications for breaking news and you can also use that have to send us photos and videos. this is the

news live from berlin i'm brian thomas for the entire news team thanks so much for being with us. what we were. when we were. the first american to someplace in our lives really experience hardship.