Leading Kurdish Politician Convicted
The Co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Selahattin Demirtaş, was convicted of "propaganda for an illegal organization" and received a ten-month prison sentence.
Demirtaş, then Diyarbakır branch president of the Human Rights Foundation, was punished for a statement he made about the detention conditions of Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party. Öcalan is imprisoned on Imrali Island in the Sea of Marmara since 1999.
In the hearing on Tuesday (28 September), the Diyarbakır High Criminal Court initially handed down a one-year prison sentence which was then mitigated to ten months. The pronouncement of judgement was postponed. Additionally, the court decided for the suspension of sentence on probation of five years.
Lawyer Beştaş: This is a disgrace of law
Demirtaş did not attend the hearing and was presented by his lawyer Meral Danış Beştaş. Beştaş claimed that her client's statement should be evaluated within the scope of freedom of thought and expression. Demirtaş had previously been convicted of "praising crime and a criminal" and received a prison sentence of one year and three months. The Court of Appeal reversed the decision and requested Demirtaş' prosecution over charges of "propaganda for an illegal organization".
Despite Demirtaş' parliamentary immunity, the Court of Appeals decreed for the continuation of the trial under terror charges. The court referred to Article 14 of the Constitution stipulating, "None of the rights and freedoms embodied in the Constitution shall be exercised with the aim of violating the indivisible integrity of the state with its territory and nation, and endangering the existence of the democratic and secular order of the Turkish Republic based upon human rights".
Lawyer Beştaş criticized the decision: "This is a disgrace of the law. Taking into consideration the political party of the defendant, the people and the thoughts he represented and his thoughts on the Kurdish question, this decision is not based on any legal argument".
Demirtaş was prosecuted on the grounds of conveying certain messages in the press release entitled "Tension created by war and isolation increased the number of violations" broadcasted on Roj TV on 7 February 2003. (EÜ/EÖ/VK)