Eight Turkish soldiers taken hostage by Kurdish rebels in a deadly attack on Oct. 21 and eventually released on November 4, were imprisoned yesterday after the Van martial court charged them with disobeying orders and crossing into another country without permission.

There were unconfirmed reports in Turkish media alleging that two of captured soldiers were moles and collaborating with the terrorists. However Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit rejected such allegations and said, the accusations against eight soldiers released by PKK terrorists were inappropriate.

The soldiers were interrogated by the General Staff in Ankara following their release, then sent to the eastern province of Van and put on trial. The martial court claimed strong evidence that an extraordinary breach of military discipline and insistence on disobeying orders existed, and arrested the soldiers before sending them to Van Military Prison.

The soldiers' lawyer, Ramazan Korkmaz, appointed by the Van Bar council said the soldiers denied the charges and said they did not disobey any orders. Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin after the soldiers had been delivered to Turkey had said in a statement that he was not too happy about the release of the soldiers, saying he could not accept the fact that they went with terrorists that night, Turkish Daily News reports.