HDP co-leader faces jail over ‘insulting’ President Erdoğan

VAN

DHA photo

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader Figen Yüksekdağ is facing a prison sentence of up to five years on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a judicial source said Feb. 10.        

A court accepted an indictment prepared by the Van Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office demanded a prison term for Yüksekdağ ranging from one to five years.        

Yüksekdağ allegedly “insulted” the head of state during a conference in Van on Jan. 2 last year.        

On Jan. 18, an indictment was also prepared for the HDP’s other co-leader, Selahattin Demirtaş, demanding a prison term ranging from one to four years on charges of insulting Erdoğan and making terrorist propaganda in a TV appearance on Sept. 9, 2015.        

Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ were detained along with 11 other HDP lawmakers in November 2016.        

Later, five HDP lawmakers were released. At the moment, a total of 12 HDP figures, including Demirtaş and Yüksekdağ, remain in custody, facing hundreds of years in jail.

The lawmakers face prosecution under anti-terrorism legislation after their parliamentary immunity was lifted last March.        

The HDP focuses on the Kurdish issue.