DIYARBAKIR, Northern Kurdistan, — According to the latest news, Diyarbakir Heavy Criminal Court sentenced co-chair of pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Selhattin Demirtas to 10-month imprisonment on account of “disseminating propaganda for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party”.
The punishment came in a period while dialog and peace demands are raising and the government officials started meeting BDP.
The case was launched because of Selahhating Demirtas speech on Kurdish satellite channel in which he was criticising the state officials for the prison conditions of the imprisoned Kurdish national leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
While he was still the chair of IHD Diyarbakir office before he was elected to parliament in 2007 Demirtas was also punished for “praising crime and criminal” a year and 6 month imprisonment over a speech he made on ROJ- TV through telephone.