Kurdish filmmaker Kutbettin Cebe has been sentenced to almost two and a half years in prison in Turkey for “terrorist propaganda”. The basis for the sentences is his documentary "Roza - The Land of Two Rivers" about the Rojava revolution.

Kurdish filmmaker Kutbettin Cebe has been sentenced to prison by a court in Balıkesir. The 32-year-old is accused of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization”.

The basis for this sentence is the documentary "Roza - The Land of Two Rivers" about the Rojava revolution, which Cebe shot in 2016.

The film deals with the various aspects of the social uprising of Kurds, Syriacs and Arabs, who established autonomous-government structures in Rojava in the midst of the Syrian civil war and fought against both the Assad regime and jihadist groups.

Cebe describes his work as a criticism of western mainstream media, which often reported on the military successes of the Rojava Revolution, but less on the socio-political ones.

The trial took place at the 3rd Balıkesir Circuit Court. Cebe was in Court, his defense lawyer, Ebru Akkal, joined from Ankara via the SEGBIS video live control system.

Akkal declared that there was no criminal offense committed and demanded the acquittal of her client. She also applied for the lifting of a travel ban previously imposed on Cebe. Cebe himself declared in his defense: “I made a documentary at the time of the war against the self-proclaimed Islamic State. As a filmmaker, I ask questions and get answers. I firmly reject the accusation of ‘terrorist propaganda’."

The court sentenced Kutbettin Cebe to two years and four months' imprisonment. As long as the verdict is not final, the filmmaker remains free. Ebru Akkal has already announced that she will appeal the sentence.

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