TURKEY, — Well-known Turkish scholar and sociologist Ismail Beşikçi was once again sentenced to prison. Going to trial for allegedly “making PKK propaganda” in writing on Kurdish problem, Beşikçi was sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison, ANF reported.
The decision has been made on the case where İsmail Beşikçi and Lawyer Zeycan Balcı Şimşek stood trial due to an essay on Kurdish problem published on the journal “Law and Society in our age”.
Beşikçi and Lawyer Zeycan Balcı, owner of the journal “Law and Society in our age” that is published within the body of Contemporary Lawyers Association, appeared during the third trial of the case at 11th High Criminal Court in Beşiktaş.
Declaring the decision, the court board sentenced Beşikçi to 1 year 6 months imprisonment which was reduced to 1 year 3 months, while Lawyer Şimşek was imposed a pecuniary penalty of 16 thousand 660 liras.
Beşikçi, in his defence, expressed that his writings are the “justifiable expressions of science”, not organization propaganda.