The Diyarbakır 4th High Criminal Court sentenced Kurdish Politician Hatip Dicle to imprisonment of one year and eight months by reason of praising Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Wokers Party (PKK). Dicle is a former deputy of the dissolved Democracy Party (DEP) and the former Co-Chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK).
The court convicted Dicle under article 7/2 of the Anti-Terror Law (TMY) on "spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization". He is one of the defendants tried in the scope of the case on the Democratic Confederation of Kurdistan (KCK) Turkey Assembly. The KCK is the umbrella organization that includes the PKK.
Lawyer Laçin: One action does not justify two cases
The court on subject had decided to merge the file with the KCK case currently tried at the Diyarbakır 6th High Criminal Court but the latter court dismissed the request. Thereupon, the 4th High Criminal Court carried on with the prosecution.
Defendant Dicle was represented by his lawyer Feride Laçin in the hearing on Thursday (28 October).
In an interview with bianet, Laçin explained that her client is being tried in the scope of the KCK case anyways on the grounds of his opinion on the Kurdish question voiced in front of his electorate in Bingöl (south-eastern Turkey) in 2009 and because of other actions from the past. "We think it is a breach of law to prosecute a defendant over the same activities in two separate cases. We will appeal as soon as the reasoned decision will have been issued". (EÖ/VK)