Diyarbakýr 5th Heavy Penal Court has sentenced Vedat Kurþun, License and Chief Editor of Kurdish daily newspaper Azadiya Welat, to 10 years and six months in prison for “Making propaganda for an illegal organization.”
Kurþun was sentenced to 166,5 year in prison and Supreme Court reversed the judgment ordering a rehearing.
The Court Board refused Kurþun’s request to give his statement in Kurdish and defined Kurdish “a language the court members did not understand but assumed Kurdish,” in the minute.
In addition, Adana 6th Heavy Penal Court convicted Dilþah Ercan, a worker of Azadiya Welat, of “Being member of an illegal organization” and “Making propaganda for an illegal organization” to eight years and six month imprisonment.
Kurþun and Ercan were already in prisons for more than eight months.