2 HDP MPs sentenced over terrorism charges

DİYARBAKIR/TUNCELİ – Demirören News Agency

İmam Taşçıer

Two lawmakers of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) have been handed jail sentences over terrorism charges.

A court in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on Feb. 14 found İmam Taşçıer guilty over charges of “committing a crime on behalf the illegal PKK” and “participating in illegal meetings and marches.”

Taşçıer stood trial for trying to enter certain regions of Diyarbakır’s Sur district which were under curfew due to 2016 military operations against the PKK.

The Diyarbakır court on Feb. 14 gave Taşçıer three years and one month on charges of “committing a crime on behalf of the terrorist organization despite not being a member of it” and 10 months on charges of “participating in illegal meetings and marches in an unarmed way and not dispersing despite the warning.”

Alican Önlü, the HDP’s deputy representing the eastern province of Tunceli, was given one year and six months on charges of “conducting terror propaganda.”

Önlü stood trial over charges of “carrying an active role” in the transportation of two PKK militants to an ambulance to be dispatched to a hospital following their attack on a police station in 2015 in Tunceli and also of participating in the killed PKK militant’s funeral ceremony afterwards.

The Turkish government accuses the HDP of being linked to the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.