A total of 155 years prison sentence has been given to 13 Kurdish politicians tried in the so-called KCK trial in Van province.

Van 1st High Criminal Court has announced the ruling for 13 Kurdish politicians standing trial in KCK case in the province of Van. The trial continues since the arrest on 7 June 2012 of the politicians who were later released in 2013 and have been tried without arrest since.

Van Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Bekir Kaya and HDP Party Assembly member Cüney Caniş are among the 13 defendants each of whom has been given prison sentences from 9 to 15 years.

Lawyers will take the case to the court of Appeal and defendants will be tried without arrest until the decision is made, which is expected to take several months.

The list of prison sentences ruled today are;

Van Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Bekir Kaya: 15 years

HDP Party Assembly member and former lawyer of Asrın Law Office, Cüney Caniş: 15 years

Former co-chair of DBP Erciş branch, Veli Avcı: 15 years

Former co-chair of DBP Çaldıran branch, Metin Adugit: 13.5 years

Former co-mayor of Bostaniçi district, Nezahat Ergüneş: 13 years

Former co-chair of DBP Van branch, Mihribah Şah: 12 years

Former co-chair of DBP Muradiye branch, Mehmet Yıldız: 12 years

Former co-mayor of Özalp district, Murat Durmaz: 12 years

Former co-chair of DBP Van branch, Halis Çakır: 12 years

Former co-chair of DBP Başkale branch and DTK member Derviş Polat: 9 years

Co-mayor of Edremit district municipality, Abdülkerim Sayan: 9 years

Başkale district municipality co-mayor İhsan Güler: 9 years

Former co-mayor of Başkale district, Hecer Saruhan: 8 years