Demirtaş faces new terrorism charges over tweet from nine years ago
A new lawsuit has been launched against former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş over a tweet from nine years ago, seeking a jail time up to three years for the renowned Kurdish politician on charges of “making terror propaganda.”
Duvar English
Turkish prosecutors are seeking from one year to five years in jail for former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş in a new lawsuit concerning the renowned Kurdish politician's tweet from 2013.
The indictment submitted to the Ankara 17th Heavy Penal Court on March 23 accuses Demirtaş of “making terror propaganda,” Mezopotamya news agency reported on April 1.
The indictment has been drafted by prosecutor Ahmet Altun, who had also drafted the indictment of the Kobani Trial, and is waiting to be approved by the court.
According to the 28-page-long indictment, Demirtaş's Nov. 16, 2013 dated tweet included the phrase of “Biji Serok Apo,” Kurdish for “Long live Apo,” referring to the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan.
Demirtaş has been in prison since 2016. He faces hundreds of years in prison on charges related to the PKK - designated a terrorist organization by Ankara - despite a previous European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling that he was imprisoned on political grounds and should be released immediately.