A court in Turkey has sentenced a former Kurdish member of the parliament accused of supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to 22 years in prison.
Leyla Guven, of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) was stripped of her parliament seat in June and was convicted subsequently of membership in a terrorist group and disseminating terrorist propaganda for the PKK.
The Heavy Penal Court No. 9 in southeastern Turkey’s Diyarbakır, Monday issued the verdict and ordered arrest of the former lawmaker, Daily Sabah notes.
The Monday sentence is the second against the former lawmaker. The 56-year-old was previously before the parliament revoked her seat, sentenced to six years and three months in prison by a provincial court for being a member of an armed terrorist organization.
A court however in June ruled for her release on probation, Daily Sabah reports. Guven is an outspoken defender of the PKK and its leader Abdullah Ocalan. She had gone into a 200-day hunger strike in 2018 in protest against Ocalan’s arrest and jailing.
Turkey has blacklisted the Kurdish movement, a 40-year-old militancy war against Turkish forces. Ankara has blamed the movement for dozens of terror attacks that have killed scores of people.
Turkish court hands 22 years in prison to former lawmaker accused of support for terrorism
