HDP deputy Remziye Tosun handed 10-year prison sentence on terrorism charges

Photo: AA

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Remziye Tosun has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for "membership of an armed terrorist organization."

The court also ruled for the continuation of her international travel ban, considering the amount of the penalty, Mesopotamia Agency (MA) reported.

Tosun was on trial in the case over the conflict in Sur district of the Kurdish-majority Diyarbakır province for "disrupting the unity and integrity of the state" and "membership of a terrorist organization."

Forty-seven people, 26 of whom are currently remanded in custody, were stranded in Diyarbakır amid the conflict due to curfews.

While Tosun didn't attend the hearing, her attorney Muharrem Şahin was preseent in the courtroom.

When the decision becomes final, two copies shall be sent to the Parliament's secretariat and the Ministry of Justice General Directorate of Penalties.

Several MPs of the HDP, including former co-chairs, have been given prison sentences over the past few years.

In June, Leyla Güven and Musa Farisoğulları were stripped off MP status due to "terrorism-related" prison sentences. 

The party's former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ are in prison as well. Demirtaş has not been released despite an ECtHR decision. 

Also, 47 of the 65 municipalities that the HDP won in March 2019 local elections have been taken over by the Ministry of Interior on the ground of "terrorism-related" investigations and prison sentences against HDP mayors. 

The HDP is one of the strongest political parties in the Kurdish-majority eastern and southeastern regions. (AÖ/VK)