France issues prison sentences to Kurdish politicians

The verdict has been announced in the lawsuit criminalizing Kurdish politicians and institutions in Paris. The French court issued prison sentences to Kurdish politicians.

An investigation had started with the raid on the Ahmet Kaya Cultural Center in Paris on June 1, 2009 and the lawsuit process related to it started in the Paris Courthouse last week after 9 years.

The court announced the verdict on Wednesday and issued prison sentences for Kurdish politicians.

According to the verdict, Kurdish politician Abdullah Öcalan was issued a 2-year closed, 1 year postponed prison sentence. Idris Güzel received a 1-year closed and 1-year postponed sentence, Bülent Atmaca a 2-year closed and Ismail Akgül received a 18-month postponed prison sentence. Celil Akdoğan was acquitted.

Kurdish politicians will not be imprisoned due to the time they already spent in remand, but they will be included in the FIJAIT profiling system.

The FIJAT profiling system was enacted in 2015 to keep tabs on persons put on trial or otherwise related to the legal system on terror allegations.