Former Kurdish Parliamentarian Sentenced To Ten Years In Prison For Her Speeches

The 5th High Criminal Court of Diyarbakır sentenced Leyla Zana, a member of the former  Democracy Party (DEP), to ten years in prison for “being a member of a terrorist organization” under article 314/2 of Turkish Penal Code. The court decided in yesterday’s (December 4) verdict hearing that suspect’s activities had reached “to the point of acting as a member of the terrorist organization Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).”

She has been deprived of the right to elect and be elected

The court also decided to deprive Zana of the right to participate in elections either as a candidate or a voter, and the other political rights under article 53/1 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

The court reached its decision in the absence of Zana’s lawyer, who could not join the hearing due to an excuse reported to the court. The court did not accept lawyer’s excuse.

The court first ruled for eight years and later increased it to twelve years on the grounds that it was a terror offense, but eventually lowered it to ten years, taking into consideration Zana’s good behavior.

Punishment to "Öcalan", “Kurdistan” and Diyarbakır speeches

The court headed by Judge Dündar Örsdemir made a case out of the speeches  Zana made between July 18 2007 and March 21, 2008 and in which the flags for a Democratic Confederacy and the slogans for Abdullah Öcalan, PKK’s imprisoned leader, were used.

The court stated that Zana had said, in the meeting of the independent deputy candidates at Diyarbakır, “Amed (city of Diyarbakır), I expect from you a voice, a very loud voice, so that not only Ankara, but the whole world must hear it…” She had also said that the arrest of Abdullah Öcalan had caused a political earthquake in the hearts of the Kurds. The court also stated that she had asked the people of Diyarbakır “not let Kurdistan get blunted.”

It was also added that she had criticized the fact that Kurdistan was called the Southeast, for, according to her, it was called , as it had always been for her grandfather, Şeyh Sait, Şeyh Rıza, just Kurdistan.

The indictment also included the statement by Zana that the role of the Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan was crucial in solving the Kurdish problem. The court also claims that she had said in her speech in Batman that this willpower was going to bring peace shortly, that all the women from the age 7 to 77 years were ready for this fight.

Zana is accused of “committing crime in the name of the PKK, though she was not a member of it” in the indictment prepared by the Diyarbakır Prosecutor’s Office. (EÖ/TK/TB)