Turkey in Euro-dock on jailed Kurdi

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>
Subject: Turkey in Euro-dock on jailed Kurdish deputies

Turkey in Euro-dock on jailed Kurdish deputies

    STRASBOURG, France, July 16 (Reuter) - The European Court of
Human Rights said on Tuesday it would hear a plea from six
Kurdish former parliamentarians sentenced to long jail sentences
for complicity with banned Kurdistan rebels.
    Turkey's supreme court has upheld the convictions by a lower
court, for up to 15 years, of five of the six former members of
the Democratic Party (DEP). The sixth was ordered released.
    The applicants argue they were held in police custody in
violation of the European Convention on Human Rights and that
their detention had been excessive.
    They also argue that Turkish law did not give them an
opportunity to have the legality of their detention in police
custody reviewed speedily by a court, according to a statement
by the European Court based in Strasbourg.
    The members of parliament were stripped of their
parliamentary immunity in March 1994 and later convicted for
complicity with the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK),
fighting for independence in southeast Turkey.
    The Human Rights Commission, which vets cases for the court,
upheld the applicants' charge that the Convention had been
violated on three counts. The court often follows the
Commission's non-binding recommendations.

Reut06:59 07-16-96