DTP Member Demirtaş Appeals against Prison Sentence

Lawyer Cihan Aydın lodged an appeal against the prison sentence of his client Nurettin Demirtaş. Former Democratic Society Party (DTP) chairman Demirtaş has been convicted on the grounds of attending a funeral ceremony of members of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

On Tuesday, one day prior to the appeal (10 November), the Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court convicted Demirtaş of "membership to an illegal organization" and handed down a 6 years and 3 months prison sentence, applying article 314 of the Criminal Code.

4 months in detention

Demirtaş had attended the funeral ceremony of 4 PKK members on 28 May 2006 in Diyarbakır. After some incidents occurring during the ceremony, Demirtaş was arrested and detained for about 4 months. Then he was released and prosecuted un-detained.

Demirtaş was tried together with un-detained defendants Ramazan Şimşek, İmam Çobanyıldızı, Ajda İnci, Kenan Güneş and Hülya Arslan. Lawyer Aydın said in his defence for Demirtaş that his client was present during the incidents since he had attended the funeral as a politician and a DTP executive in order to strengthen his bonds with the people. He stated that Demirtaş had not made an agitating or directing speech to the crowd and concluded that for this reason an element of crime had not been constituted.

Aydın pointed out that neither the instant 6 minutes of footage nor the report about the transcript of the cassette were sufficient to render a judgement. However, he could not prevent his client's conviction.

Also Tuncel accused of "PKK membership"

At the same time, the case of DTP Istanbul MP Sebahat Tunceli was continued yesterday (11 November) before the Istanbul 10th High Criminal Court. Tunceli is facing prison sentence of up to 15 years for alleged "PKK membership".

The court postponed the case to 4 February 2010 to hear the statements of Duhok Municipality Mayor Serbest Arif Reşid and other defendants. (EÖ/VK)