Batman mayor sentenced to 2 years in prison
Batman mayor sentenced to 2 years in prison
A Turkish court sentenced Batman mayor Necdet Atalay for alleged propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization.
Atalay was convicted on Monday because he called Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) "respectable" and "the leader of the Kurdish people".
The Diyarbakýr 4th High Criminal Court based its verdict on an interview Atalay gave to a local newspaper in Batman last year.
Atalay did not attend the final hearing but was represented by his lawyer Mustafa Yýldýz. The court found Atalay guilty of making propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization and sentenced him to 2.5 years in jail.
Lawyer Yýldýz announced that they were going to appeal. "If the decision should be approved, we will apply to the European Court of Human Rights", he declared.
At the same time, Mehmet Þerif Gençdal, spokesman of the Group for a Peaceful and Democratic Solution (of the Kurdish question), received a 20-month prison sentence under the same allegations.
The same court again found the defendant guilty of "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization".
Atalay was convicted on Monday because he called Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) "respectable" and "the leader of the Kurdish people".
The Diyarbakýr 4th High Criminal Court based its verdict on an interview Atalay gave to a local newspaper in Batman last year.
Atalay did not attend the final hearing but was represented by his lawyer Mustafa Yýldýz. The court found Atalay guilty of making propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization and sentenced him to 2.5 years in jail.
Lawyer Yýldýz announced that they were going to appeal. "If the decision should be approved, we will apply to the European Court of Human Rights", he declared.
At the same time, Mehmet Þerif Gençdal, spokesman of the Group for a Peaceful and Democratic Solution (of the Kurdish question), received a 20-month prison sentence under the same allegations.
The same court again found the defendant guilty of "spreading propaganda for an illegal organization".
