Diyarbakýr 5th High Criminal Court sentenced Independent MP Leyla Zana to ten years in prison for nine separate speeches she made in the years 2007-2008. Zana is accused of “committing crime on behalf of an illegal organization despite not being a member of it” and “making propaganda for an illegal organization”.

The trial against Zana has started again recently following the dismissal of the case by the Penal Department No. 9 of the Supreme Court.

If the conviction is approved by the Supreme Court of Appeals, Leyla Zana will not be taken to prison until she leaves Parliament. The next election is set for 2015.

Leyla Zana was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was awarded the Andrei Sakharov prize for human rights in 1995 and she has been also nominated to Nobel Peace Prize

The elected Kurdish parliamentarian Zana had already spent her best 10 years in the Turkish prisons between 1994 and 2004.