Detained Candidate Dicle Approved as MP

Hatip Dicle, candidate of the Labour, Democracy and Freedom Block, reportedly received a mandate in the parliamentary elections on 12 June. Dicle is expected to be released from prison today (20 June).

The Provincial Election Board of Diyarbakır (south-eastern Turkey) sent an according document to the Supreme Election Board stating that Dicle was elected as Member of Parliament in the general elections. Dicle's lawyers applied to the Provincial Election Board to request the official approval.

Layer Meral Danış Beştaş said in a statement made to a TRT reporter on Friday (17 June) that they had received the official approval and that they were going complete the necessary procedures for Dicle's release soon.

Dicle was handed down a one-year and eight-month prison sentence by the Ankara 11^th High Criminal Court on charges of "making propaganda for the illegal Kurdistan Workers' Party" (PKK) in 2009. He has been detained for 453 days in the scope of the trial about the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK), the umbrella organization that includes the PKK. His time in detention was deducted from the punishment.

A petition for release was submitted to court regarding a group of people elected as Members of Parliament who are currently being detained in the course of the trial related to the KCK, namely defendants Hatip Dicle, Kemal Aktaş, Faysal Sarıyıldız, Selma Irmak, Gülseren Yıldırım and İbrahim Ayhan. (HK/VK)