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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An Istanbul courthouse on Monday sentenced jailed former co-chair of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) to three-and-a-half years in prison, according to Turkish state media.
Istanbul’s Bakirkoy Courthouse sentenced Demirtas on charges of “insulting the president” in statements made in 2015, Turkish state media reported.
The public prosecutor said Demirtas’ remarks, made at Ataturk airport, “exceeded the limits of opinion, explanation and criticism” and “could not be evaluated within the scope of the 10th Article of the European Convention on Human Rights on freedom of expression.”
The prosecutor further added that Demirtas had “committed the crimes of "insulting" and "insulting the President" with a single action” in a statement targeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and then Prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
Demirtas has been held in jail since November 2016 for his alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered by Ankara to be a terrorist organization. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has previously said that they did not find any evidence to prove the offences allegedly committed by the Kurdish politician.
He faces up to 142 years in jail on terror charges, often leveled against members of the HDP and supporters of Kurdish rights in Turkey.
His party is regularly targeted by Ankara.
On Wednesday, Turkey’s top prosecutor filed an indictment in the Constitutional Court demanding a ban on the HDP. The 609-page filing from Chief Prosecutor Bekir Sahin claims that HDP members have attempted to “disrupt and eliminate” the unity of the Turkish state through their statements and activities. It also seeks to ban 600 HDP members from engaging in politics for five years.
Demirtas said the party will continue its struggle for democracy, even if shut down.
“Regardless of the result, we will never deviate from the path of democracy and peace. We will continue our struggle through the law and we will definitely win,” he said in a tweet posted by his lawyers on Friday.
HDP MP Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu was stripped of his parliamentary membership on Wednesday for a tweet he made in 2016, after being sentenced to two years and a half in prison in 2018.
Turkish police detained the MP in a raid early Sunday morning, only to be released later in the day.
“As of now I’m free,” he tweeted on Sunday. “I’m on my way to join the #Newroz celebrations. I might be detained yet again, but I will keep voicing the truth until my dying breath!”
Tens of thousands of people, mostly Kurds, took part in massive Newroz celebrations on Saturday and Sunday in Istanbul and the Kurdish cities of Amed (Diyarbekir) and Van. The crowds also carried HDP flags.
According to the Turkish online newspaper T24, four people were detained during the celebrations held in Istanbul's Yenikapi district for allegedly resisting police and another ten for “spreading terrorist propaganda.”
Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation against HDP co-chair Medhat Sancar for his statements during Newroz celebrations in Amed for allegedly "making propaganda for a terrorist organization," Duvar news agency reported on Monday.
People at the celebrations chanted the name of the jailed “leader of the PKK terrorist organisation” Abdullah Ocalan, Anadolu Agency (AA) said on Sunday.
At least 139 HDP members and officials were arrested in the space of a week in February, in addition to 718 people across the country for their alleged links to the PKK.
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