BDP Politicians in the Sight of the Judiciary

The Ankara 11^th High Criminal Court decided to bring pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Istanbul MP Sebahat Tuncel to court by compulsion in order to take her statement regarding the prosecution under allegations of "praising a crime and a criminal".

23 members of the Women's Assembly of the banned Democratic Society Party (DTP) are tried together with MP Tunel. In the hearing on 15 April, President Judge Kadir Kayan decided to combine both cases.

A subpoena was sent to the BDP Headquarters to take Tuncel to court by compulsion. Judge Kayan said that Tuncel could not be notified since she was not present at the BDP Headquarters.

According to the request of the prosecution, the court decided to issue another warrant to bring Tuncel to court by compulsion and to file a criminal complaint with the officials responsible for the first warrant not reaching Tuncl. The trial will be continued on 17 June.

10 months' prison sentence for Sadak for 2010 agenda

The 4^th High Criminal Court in Diyarbakır in south-eastern Turkey handed down a prison sentence of one year to Siirt Mayor Selim Sadak in the first and only session of the case. Reason for the conviction are pictures of the Newroz festival included the 2010 calendar issued by the Siir Municipality. Newroz celebrations are a Kurdish tradition to mark the beginning of the Iranian New Year and the arrival of spring. The pictures in the calendar allegedly showed the "flag of the PKK", the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party.

The court was not persuaded by the defence made by lawyer Şakir Demir. However, Sadak's punishment was mitigated to imprisonment of 10 months due to "good conduct".

Dicle facing 30 years' imprisonment

The same Diyarbakır court held a session on 13 April regarding the case against Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-Chair Hatip Dicle on the grounds of various speeches he made on different occasions.

The prosecutor demanded a total prison sentence of 30 years under charges of "spreading propaganda for the PKK terror organization" and "membership of an organization and committing crime on the organization's behalf". Dicle faces a three counts punishment under article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Act (TMY) and further sentences according to articles 314/2 and 314/3 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TMY).

Ahmet Ertak on trial for "propaganda"

Ahmet Ertak, former Mayor of Şırnak in south-eastern Turkey, stands trial under charges of "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization". (EÖ/VK)