Prosecutor Appeals Acquittal Of Former Hdp Deputy

- A prosecutor has appealed the acquittal of a former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy on charges of being a member of an outlawed terrorist organization.

Sait Ramazan Tiyek, the prosecutor in the retrial of former HDP deputy Sebahat Tuncel, appealed to the Court of Appeals July 13, about the decision made by Istanbul’s 10th Court of Serious Crimes which acquitted Tuncel of charges of being a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Tiyek demanded a reversal of the judgement on Tuncel, claiming the acquittal was unlawful in terms of method and basis.

In his appeal, Tiyek demanded re-hearing the secret witnesses without restricting the witnesses’ right to defense and on grounds of the law on witness protection’s ninth article.

In its July 7 decision, the Istanbul court had acquitted Tuncel of being a PKK member, saying that “concrete, certain, convincing evidence on Tuncel that is beyond suspicion could not be found.”

The case into Tuncel had started on Nov. 5, 2006, when she was detained for allegedly attending meetings with leaders of the PKK, which Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union list as a terrorist organization.

Tuncel was then put on trial on charges of “being a member of a terrorist organization.” On July 24, 2007, however, she was released after securing parliamentary immunity for being elected in that year’s general election as an independent MP.

The former HDP lawmaker had been sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison in September 2012, which was approved by the Court of Appeals in December 2013.

Back in February, Turkey’s Constitutional Court had ruled that Tuncel’s right to a fair trial in a reasonable time period had been violated and ordered the retrial. It also awarded Tuncel 5,000 Turkish Liras ($1,880) in damages. The retrial had started on June 24.