The trial against 17 members of the "Peace Groups" under charges of "propaganda for an illegal organization" has started at the 6^th High Criminal Court in Diyarbakır in the pre-dominantly Kurdish south-east of the country.

A total of 26 refugees from the UN refugee camp in Mahmur and eight former members of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) entered Turkey via the Iraqi border upon imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan's call on 19 October 2009. They followed their personal decisions as an attempt to push forward the jammed political process of finding a solution to the Kurdish question.

In the first hearing of the case on 20 April, the prosecutor demanded prison sentences of five years for each of the 17 group members. They stand accused of "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization" on the grounds of a press release made at the Human Rights Foundation Branch in Diyarbakır on 30 December 2009.

bianet talked to Fethi Gümüş, defence lawyer of the members of the "Peace Groups". Gümüş stated that in their press release, the defendants had requested to improve the detention conditions of Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), in order to reach a solution for peace and for the Kurdish question. Lawyer Gümüş indicated that this was not organizational propaganda but part of freedom of thought and expression.

According to the news of the Diyarbakır Söz newspaper, group member Gülbahar Çiçek said, "We made a press release with the intention to prevent the tensions that were experienced at the time and to remind once again the steps that could be taken for peace and democracy. We aimed at developing the sensitivity of the government, the European Council Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Defendant Elif Uludağ did not attend the hearing. The court postponed the case to 29 June.

"Another 30 single trials"

Lawyer Gümüş informed bianet that another 30 single trials have been launched with the 30 adults of both peace groups. The defendants coming from Kandil are sued under allegations of "membership of an illegal organization and spreading its propaganda"; the defendants from Mahmur stand accused of "behaving like a member of an illegal organization although not being a member" and "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization", Gümüş said. (TK/VK)