1 Year 3 Months Imprisonment for "PKK Propaganda"

Nil Demirkazık, once a candidate candidate for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has been sentenced to fifteen months imprisonment by the Ankara 11th Heavy Penal Court.

She was convicted of "spreading PKK propaganda in the press and media". The head judge announced at the hearing that she had been acquitted of the crime of "knowingly and willingly helping the PKK without being a member".

The prosecution had demanded between two and eight years imprisonment for the alleged crime of spreading PKK propaganda and inciting hatred and hostility among people according to race and region. It had further demanded a sentence of between 8.5 and 20 years for "knowingly and willingly helping the PKK."

Her defence lawyer, Berivan Melik, said that her client, whom she described as "also having a journalist's and researcher's identity", was innocent.

The lawyer argued that others, including academics, had made statements similar to hers without facing prosecution.

Using Anti-Terrorism Law No. 3713, Article 13, the court decided not to convert or suspend the sentence.

Demirkazık was on trial for wearing a Kurdistan badge at a congress of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP). (EZÖ/AG)