Turkish court jails prominent Kurdish activist over speeches

Activist Leyla Zana is a former lawmaker who spent a decade in prison for her alleged links to the PKK. [Getty Images]

Turkish court jails prominent Kurdish activist over speeches

05/12/2008

Leyla Zana, a pro-Kurdish politician who won a prestigious European human rights award in 1995, received a ten-year prison sentence from a Turkish court Thursday for disseminating pro-PKK propaganda.

(Zaman, Hurriyet - 05/12/08; AFP, Reuters, DPA, BBC, New York Times, Bianet - 04/12/08)
photo

Activist Leyla Zana is a former lawmaker who spent a decade in prison for her alleged links to the PKK. [Getty Images]

A Turkish criminal court sentenced Kurdish politician Leyla Zana, the winner of the European Parliament's (EP) Sakharov human rights award in 1995, to ten years in prison Thursday (December 4th) for "committing crimes on behalf of a terrorist group".

Judges in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir convicted the former Turkish lawmaker of spreading propaganda for the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). It found her guilty of violating the penal code and the anti-terror law in speeches she made at the EP, protest meetings and news conferences over the past few years.

The court also revoked Zana's right to vote and to hold elected office, since her sentence exceeds two years. According to the Turkish daily Zaman, she was a potential candidate for a mayoral nomination from the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) in local elections next March.

Neither Zana nor her lawyer, Fethi Gumus, was present for the reading of the verdict. They have indicated they will appeal.

The BBC quoted Gumus as saying Thursday that the speeches that prompted the trial against her client were well within the bounds of free speech. The court's verdict, she noted, was an "unfortunate" decision for a country seeking to join the EU.

Zana gained prominence in 1991 when she became the first Kurdish woman to win a seat in the Turkish parliament. Her decision to recite part of her oath of office in Kurdish, which Ankara does not list as an official language, sparked outrage.

Zana, 47, and three other lawmakers of the now-defunct Democracy Party (DEP) -- Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak and Orhan Dogan -- lost their parliamentary immunity in 1994 and received 15-year prison sentences for their alleged ties to militants from the PKK.

The EU and human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have considered the four prisoners of conscience. In 1995, her husband, Mehdi Zana, accepted the EP Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought on her behalf, as she was behind bars.

Zana, Dicle, Sadak and Dogan were released in June 2004 after spending ten years in prison. An appeals court overturned their convictions several months later.

The United States and the EU both consider the PKK a terrorist group.

In an unrelated development, reports Thursday said jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is seeking 20,100 euros in compensation from Greece for its role in his 1999 capture and imprisonment by Turkey.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com

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More:

Turkey jails Kurdish politician,BBC NEWS

TURKEY PRESS

HURRIYET:

-- FORMER DEP MP SENTENCED TO TEN YEARS IN PRISON
Leyla Zana, a former lawmaker from the banned Democracy Party (DEP), was sentenced to ten years in prison by a court in Diyarbakir in a case in which she was tried for a number of speeches she made. The court also banned Zana from politics. Zana's lawyer said they would appeal to a higher court.

MILLIYET

-- 10 YEAR IMPRISONMENT TO ZANA
Leyla Zana, a former deputy of now-defunct Democracy Party (DEP), was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment due to nine different speeches she made at European Parliament, and in the southeastern provinces of Diyarbakir, Batman, Bingol in various dates.

VATAN

-- 10 YEAR IMPRISONMENT AND POLITICAL BAN TO ZANA
Leyla Zana, a former deputy of now-defunct Democracy Party (DEP), was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment as she eulogized PKK terrorist organization and its head during nine speeches she made within a year as well as "being member of terrorist organization". Diyarbakir High Criminal Court reduced the prison term from 12 years to 10 years due to "good conduct". As her jail term exceeds two years, Zana was also deprived of her eligibility to vote and get elected in elections.

CUMHURIYET

-- ZANA SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON
Former deputy of Democracy Party (DEP) Leyla Zana was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of "making propaganda of terrorist organization" and "being a member of terrorist organization".

GOOD MORNING--TURKEY PRESS SCAN ON DEC 5