Labor Party officials face 'disinformation' charges over earthquake banners

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A lawsuit has been filed against two local officials of the Labor Party (EMEP) in Rize, northern Turkey, because of the party's banners about the massive earthquakes in February, the daily Evrensel reported.

Hasan Zorlucan, the party's provincial chair, and Kamil Çavuşoğlu, an executive of the Fındıklı district organization, were indicted for "openly disseminating misleading information."

The lawsuit concerns a banner hung over a street, which read, "The government, which condemned earthquake survivors to death by leaving them to insolubility and did not meet the need for shelter according to the characteristics of the region and in a timely manner, is responsible for the new deaths as well."

The Pazar Chief Public Prosecutor's Office also demanded the defendants be banned from politics if they are sentenced to more than one year in prison and the sentence is not deferred.

The lawsuit was "an obstacle to our most natural rights," Zorlucan told Evrensel. "

"We think that the fact that they are trying to punish us for holding the government responsible for the earthquake that turned into a disaster in the run-up to the elections is a way for the one-man administration to increase the pressure even more," he was quoted as saying.

(HA/VK)