Another 3 Years in Jail for Leyla Zana

The 5^th High Criminal Court in Diyarbakır, a Kurdish majority-city in south-east Turkey, handed down a three-year prison sentence to Leyla Zana, former MP of the closed pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP). Zana was charged with "propaganda for an illegal organization" because she had called Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned leader of  the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the "leader of the Kurdish People".

The court based the charges on speeches made by Zana during the Democratic Society Congress on 20-22 September 2008 and in the course of a sit-down strike carried out on 1-3 November 2008 as a protest action against the supposedly worsening detention conditions for Öcalan.

Convicted in her absence

According to Zana's lawyer Fethi Gümüş, neither Zana herself nor her legal representative were able to attend the hearing this Thursday (8 April) because Zana had been issued an incorrect subpoena. Lawyer Gümüş told bianet, "This is the maximum sentence that could be given and the court did not apply any kind of mitigation. We will file an appeal, of course".

Leyla Zana had been on trial since 9 January 2009. The prosecution had previously demanded prison sentence of one year and six months for each of her speeches.

More than 13 years' imprisonment within two years

Zana received a two-year prison sentence from the Diyarbakır 6^th High Criminal Court on the grounds of a speech made at the Newroz celebrations in 2007 (traditional Kurdish festival to mark the beginning of the Iranian New Year and the arrival of spring). She was sentenced for saying "The three leaders of the Kurds Celal Talabani, Mesut Barzani and Abdullah Öcalan".

Zana stood trial once more under charges of "praising crime and criminals" based on her defence in the case mentioned above. The Diyarbakır 6^th High Criminal Court acquitted the politician.

Former DEP MP Zana received a prison sentence of one year and three months based on a speech she had given at a seminar held by the School of Oriental and African Studies in London on 24 May 2008. Zana was convicted of "propaganda for an illegal organization". In her speech, she had likened the PKK and its imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan's importance to the Kurdish people to the importance the brain and heart have to humans. "They have created a new life for the Kurdish people, so that a people that used to be ashamed of its existence gained a spirit of freedom and resistance."

On 4 December 2008, Zana was sentenced to imprisonment of ten years by the Diyarbakır 5^th High Criminal Court under allegations of "spreading propaganda for the PKK" in nine different speeches. The court voiced the opinion that "the defendant's activities over all reached the dimension of membership of the PKK/Kongra-Gel terror organization". The decision included Zana's deprivation of the right to vote and to be elected and several other political rights. (EÖ/VK)