Turkey: HDP lawmaker faces life sentence

By Cemal Asan

VAN, Turkey (AA) - A Turkish prosecutor has sought a life sentence for a lawmaker from the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) for "being a member of an armed organization", "disruption of unity and territorial integrity of the state" and "terror propaganda".

The chief prosecutor in the eastern Van province asked the court to sentence HDP Van deputy Tugba Hezer Ozturk, to penalties comprising of one aggravated life sentence and up to 48 years in jail, the prosecutor's office revealed on Wednesday.

According to the indictment, Ozturk is accused of attending the funeral of PKK terrorists, including Abdulbaki Somer's, who was identified as the suicide bomber in an attack in the capital Ankara that left 29 people dead on Feb. 17.

Ozturk is one of 15 HDP deputies for whom arrest orders had been issued for failing to answer public prosecutors’ summons linked to an ongoing counter-terrorism probe. Ozturk could not be arrested because she was abroad -- spotted in Brussels, photos and eyewitnesses revealed. Thirteen were arrested earlier this month.

Ten of them, including party co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, remain in custody awaiting trial for the terrorism-related offenses. Turkish authorities have repeatedly said there was nothing unconstitutional or unlawful in their arrests, stating the lawmakers were going through normal legal procedures.

Their arrests were made possible after certain lawmakers’ parliamentary immunity was lifted earlier this year.

The government has accused the HDP of having links to the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.