Thirteen students at Cumhuriyet University have been sentenced to a total of 109 years and 6 months in prison for allegedly being members of an illegal organization and spreading propoganda for the organization.

The students had been taken into custody in the scope of a so-called KCK (Kurdish Communities Union) operation in the province of Sivas on 27 March 2012. Five were released and eight others sent to prison following the operation which targeted Kurdish students.

Following the summary judgment at Malatya 3rd High Criminal Court on Thursday, the court board sentenced eight of the students, those remanded in custody, to nine years in prison each, and the other five to seven and a half year each.

The court board also sentenced one other, reportedly an informant suspect tried in the same case, to six years and three months in prison on the grounds of being member of an illegal organization.